- Bling has been expanding its integration with the banking system;
- In the last 12 months, Bling’s paying customer base increased by 62% and ARR reached BRL 60 million;
- Pagcerto operates through a white label sub-acquirer platform and BaaS (banking as a service), services that will be integrated and used by Bling.
Brazil‘s tech company Locaweb announced that it has acquired Bling for BRL 524.3 million, and Pagcerto. The firm has been in an acquisition marathon: after raising BRL 575 million on its IPO, Locaweb has recently acquired Social Miner, Etus, Vindi, Melhor Envio, Connectplug, Samurai, Credisfera and Dooca Commerce.
Launched in 2009 in the Brazilian city of Bento Gonçalves, Bling is an online management system for the segment of e-commerce and micro and small enterprises, with more than 200 integrations, which offers solutions in the SaaS model for physical, virtual businesses or hybrids. It assists in business management and organization, through modules for issuing electronic invoices, product catalog, inventory and multichannel sales, POS, financial management, integrations with e-commerce platforms, marketplaces and
logistic solutions, among others.
Due to the Brazil‘s open banking agenda, Bling has been expanding its integration with the banking system. Since 2020, Bling’s clients already have a digital account integrated with the management system, facilitating the issuance of boletos (bank slips), transfers, bill payments and financial reconciliations.
In the coming months, new services will be added, such as PIX, acquiring services and receivables anticipation, facilitating the access of micro and small enterprises to the financial system.
READ ALSO: Brazil’s Locaweb acquires Melhor Envio logistics platform for BRL 83 million
With this acquisition, Locaweb enters the market for management systems.
Besides adding more than 400,000 customers to Locaweb’s platform, Bling will continue to work agnostically, with new integrations and assisting the
demands of the entire market.
According to Locaweb, a large portion of its commerce clients already use an ERP solution and Bling has the highest penetration on this basis. This also opens up a great possibility for all new Locaweb Commerce customers to begin their journey integrated with the platform.
In the last 12 months, Bling’s paying customer base increased by 62% and ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) reached BRL 60 million, an annual growth of 79%, in addition to be an operation with EBITDA generation capacity.
Following Locaweb’s operating model in other acquisitions, Mr. Antônio Nodari, founder of Bling, remains as CEO of the operation and will maintain the team of employees at its head office in Bento Gonçalves.
Simultaneously with the execution of the Bling agreement, Locaweb and Bling also entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of all shares issued by Pagcerto, a company that operates through a white label sub-acquirer platform and BaaS (banking as a service), services that will be integrated and used by Bling.
READ ALSO: Brazil’s Locaweb announces a follow-on offering
The acquisition of Pagcerto will be carried out via Bling after it becomes controlled by Locaweb, that is, after the closing of the transaction. The closing of both deals are subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent including the approval of the Brazilian antitrust watchdog.
