Business

Broker-dealer founded by Brazilians for Brazilians, Avenue Securities raises a $30 million SoftBank-led round

Created to attract Brazilians to the international capital market, Avenue has more than 300 thousand customers. With the new funding, it wants to expand its portfolio and operations

Roberto Lee, at a ceremony at Nasdaq, as Avenue begins operations in the US in 2018. Photo: Screenshot/YouTube Avenue

LABS

03.Aug.2021 11:16 BRT
UPDATED 04.Aug.2021 12:45 BRT

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Avenue now has more than 300,000 customers, and over $1 billion in assets under its management;
With the new funding, the company intends to diversify its portfolio, invest in technological infrastructure and expand its workforce.

Avenue Securities, a brokerage firm founded by Brazilians for Brazilians interested in investing abroad, and headquartered in Miami, Florida, announced this Tuesday a $30 million Series B round led by SoftBank Latin America Fund. Igah Ventures, which had previously invested in the company, also participated in the round.

Created under the motto of “the largest broker-dealer in the U.S. for Brazilians”, the company currently has US$ 1 billion in assets under management and offers options ranging from to ETFs and REITs. The company said, in a press release, that it intends to use the resources to diversify its portfolio, invest in technological infrastructure and expand its workforce, currently at just over 170 people, with an eye on opening branches in Brazil and abroad.

“This round is a validation of our belief that the internationalization of investments has a bright and growing future. Having fulfilled our first task – providing access to international capital markets for Brazilian investors – we are now focused on increasing our customers base and expand our product offerings,” said Avenue CEO and founder Roberto Lee, in a press release.

“At SoftBank, we are committed to investing in innovative technology companies that transform the way we live, work, and have fun, including democratizing access to services previously unattainable for millions of people. Avenue is doing exactly that for Brazilians interested in invest abroad,” said Alex Szapiro, head of SoftBank in Brazil and operating partner of SBLA Advisers Corp, also in a press release.

In a LinkedIn post, Avenue’s CFO Emmanuil G Inglesis said that “very soon” the broker’s clients will also be able to “access banking services, in a process that will gradually make them (finally) financially fully assisted abroad.”

Avenue’s trajectory began in March 2018, when Lee, former CEO and founding partner of the Brazilian brokers WinTrade and Clear, raised a $7 million round (about BRL 23 million at the time) with Vectis Partners, an equity firm owned by Patrick Ogrady, ex-president of XP Gestão, Alexandre Aoude, ex-president of Deutsche Bank in Brazil and ex-vice-president of Pine bank, and Paulo Lemman, son of the Brazilian businessman and investor Jorge Paulo Lemman.

In November of the same year, a ceremony at Nasdaq marked the beginning of Avenue’s US operations. In 2020, the company zeroed tariffs for Brazilians wanting to invest abroad and began making a series of acquisitions aimed at expansion and the necessary licenses to diversify its business: DriveWealth, Coin DTVM, Bexs. Earlier this year, the company received a round of R$35 million and was valued at around R$500 million.