- The month’s investment was concentrated in 3 deals, raised by PetLove, CargoX, and Sanar;
- Acquisitions have also reached a new record: 30 deals were mapped by Distrito in the first four months of 2020;
- Unlike other startups, that recently cut part of their staff due to the pandemic’s economic consequences, JobHome, the first Brazilian player specialized in a fully remote call center, recently hired 800 professionals
After a bearish month for the investment market in Brazil, with large uncertainty brought by the corona crisis, venture capital seems to be back on track. According to the innovation firm Distrito, from January to April, investments in Brazilian startups hit a record value of $480 million in 2020. In the whole year of 2019, this figure reached as much as $400 million.
In April alone, $144 million was raised in venture capital in the country, more than twice the amount recorded in the same month last year: $66 million. Another highlight was the level of concentration of such fundings: PetLove, CargoX, and Sanar were responsible for 97% of the total volume invested in the month. In addition, the foodtech 100 Foods and the legaltech SigaLei raised early-stage rounds this past month, of $148K and $ 255K, respectively.
Acquisitions have also reached a new record: 30 deals were mapped by Distrito in the first four months of 2020 – 4 of them happened in April. Throughout 2018, 22 acquisitions were registered.
But for Daniel Chalfon, partner at the Brazilian VC firm Astella, “the real reflection of the crisis will come over the months of June, July, and August.” With only three rounds comprising almost the total of deals in April, it’s indeed early to affirm that this market is fully recovered from the pandemic turmoil.
Remote work on the rise
Nearly half of SMB in Brazil acquired remote work tools since the adoption of social isolation measures. With a surge in the number of people working from home, JobHome, the first Brazilian player specialized in a fully remote call center, recently hired 800 professionals among operators, supervisors, and coordinators that are currently working from home.
“You have to be very careful and understand that home office is not just about sending the employee home, with a computer and smartphone. The management team needs to be very well prepared to monitor all of this with security support ”, JobHome founder and CMO told Distrito.
