A week of much movement in the financial sector, new players expanding, and the growth of the Brazilian economy. In Argentina, the government showed efforts to recover stability when announced its desire to renegotiate the deadlines of its debt with the IMF.
Here in Brazil, the banks Inter and Original disclosed promising news of the plans for expansion—and who also has been expanding, in this case, in terms of volume of investments, is the Argentine venture capital fund Kaszek Ventures, one of the pioneers of Latin America and investor in names like Nubank, Gympass, and Loggi. The fund announced this Thursday (29th) the raising of $ 600 million for new investments in the region.
In the tourism sector, a new foreign player gained this week the authorization from ANAC, local regulator of the sector, to fly in Brazil—the Chilean JetSmart. The fifth low-cost airline to arrive in the country, JetSmart will compete against the other low-cost companies that recently gained authorization from the regulating institution to operate low-cost flights in the country: the European Norwegian and Globalia, the also Chilean Sky Airlines, and the Argentine Flybondi.
In the global context, one of the biggest companies in agro-business worldwide, the American Cargill, was yet another company to surrender to the global trend in adoption and growth of vegetable protein. The news raised the question: Are we on track to a vegan future?
Amidst trends, news and results, browse through an overview of the news that shook the business world this week—and don’t forget the tip for this weekend!
4. The success of Banco Inter in becoming the sixth biggest in Brazil
After receiving a millionaire contribution from Softbank during last month, Banco Inter has ambitious plans: to become a super app. With almost 3 million clients on its base—of which, 1 million were added in barely five months—and occupying the position of the most-valued bank in the stock market—Inter definitely seems to have what it takes to reach that milestone.
LABS spoke with Rodrigo Gouveia, Facebook’s ex-Global Client Partner for Latin America and now strategy chief of Inter’s new plan seeking to become a super app, to understand what are the plans for the company. According to the executive, Inter’s race to become a super app has three lines to follow:
- A continuous focus on the best possible experience for the user, such as the “one-stop shop” logic as a mantra for the marketplace;
- a policy of benefits that go beyond zero fees typical of fintechs, with solutions like cashback and other non-financial advantages offered by strategic partners;
- a heavy investment in business intelligence in the construction of a predictive model that offers what the client needs even without the client knowing, basing the service on their usage of the app.
“The super app is born thinking in those three pillars to be solved,” said Gouveia to LABS.
Read the full article: Banco Inter’s assets to be Brazil’s 6th largest yet in 2019
3. Electronic payments giant in Brazil, Cielo announces Cielo Pay in October
Following the wave of fintechs such as MercadoPago, Nubank, and Banco Inter, Cielo announced the arrival of the payment platform Cielo Pay, to be launched the next 14th of October.
Looking at microentrepreneurs, such as vendors and self-employed entrepreneurs, the new solution should help the market leader to gain steam. In the last quarter, the company registered liquid profits of BRL 431.2 million, a 33% drop in comparison with the same period last year.
“Now, the relation between Cielo with the entrepreneur will go beyond the sale; we will accompany their daily agenda as sellers and as consumers,” said the executive-president of the company, Paulo Caffarelli, to journalists, according to Forbes Brazil.
2. Banco Original wants to double the number of clients by the end of 2019
Competitor of Nubank, Inter, and Neon, Banco Original was born in 2016 with a varied portfolio of products, and has the objective of surpassing 3 million clients in 2019-the fintech finished the first semester with 1.6 million, a growth of 258% in 12 months.
In addition to the client base, the company’s results also grew: Original registered liquid profits of BRL 3.602 million in the first six months of the year—a growth of 67.3% in comparison with the same period of last year. According to the bank, that growth is due to a logic of open banking that Original adopted from the very beginning and to a recent diversification of its target public.
In an interview with LABS, Raul Moreira, director of Technology, Innovation, and Operations of Original, spoke more about the bank’s new strategy, which, since May, had been under development with the Single Account. The strategy was responsible for helping Original finish the first six months of the year with 1.6 million clients.
Access the full content: Banco Original wants to double the number of clients by the end of 2019
1. Brazil is ready to reduce the bureaucracy of its omnichannel operations
To guarantee a better experience buying online, one among many challenges that permeate the world of e-commerce, is the bureaucracy concerning omnichannel regulations.
In general terms, the concept—coined as omnichannel—poses that players in e-commerce may reach consumers via a variety of channels, not just by delivering at home. Collection points, online stores, applications, marketplaces; the idea is to turn the purchasing experience more flexible and adjusted to the habits and lifestyle of the consumer.
Considered a future trend of retail by many experts, here in Brazil, companies that operate omnichannel sales need to navigate some difficulties in taxation and logistics. But the good news is that such a scenario is about to change—through the ratification of the Law Project (PL) 148/2019, known as the “PL of omnichannel”.
In an interview with LABS, the director of the Omnichannel Committee for ABComm, Guilherme Martins, explains that the project aims at solving the two principal barriers for omnichannel in Brazil: the fiscal complexity of creating collection and withdrawal points, and the possibility of an integrated reverse logistics.
LABS+1: Bacurau—a Brazilian film by Kleber Mendonça was awarded at Cannes Festival
With an ascending international prestige, Brazilian cinema has just launched a great film: Bacurau is, since yesterday (29th), playing in local cinemas.
The film takes place in the near future at a community in the Brazilian backlands that is suddenly surprised by a series of strange and scary events that shake the local residents. According to some critics, the director of the film is proposing an allegory of Brazil nowadays.
Awarded with the Jury Prize in Cannes, Bacurau competed against big distinguished and international names, such as Terrence Malick and Pedro Almodovar; and without a doubt, it is a film that illustrates the idiosyncrasies of a contemporary Brazil a bit complex–and controversial.
Bacurau
Year: 2019
Directed by: Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho
Debuts : August 29 2019 ( Brazil )
Duration: 131 minutes
Not recommended for children below 16 years of age
