Brazilian retail group Via Varejo, the parent company of brands such as Casas Bahia and Ponto (formerly Ponto Frio), announced that it has changed its name and brand positioning. Now, it’s just Via. The objective of the new brand, according to a statement, is to reinforce the group’s strategy of being recognized “as the best shopping route for all Brazilians, wherever, whenever and however they want.”
The company says Via is no longer a retail company in a statement. “In the past year, it has unified physical stores, websites and apps, and associated itself with startups that have given more speed to the logistical and technological system, changed the marketplace platform, accelerating the entry of new sellers daily.”
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Last week, Via had already communicated the change of the Ponto Frio brand to Ponto.
Via acquires fintech Celer to expand financial services
In addition to the brand change, Via also announced the acquisition of fintech Celer, a Bank-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that enables other fintechs to offer their customers a complete digital account integrated with payment services such as cash-in and cash-out, card issuance and processing, collection and transfer management and PIX.
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According to a statement to investors, Celer has integration with around 200 fintechs, which provide acquisition and digital account solutions for a network of more than 24,000 businesses.
With Celer, Via will expand the financial services it offers to sellers in its marketplace, such as expanding the digital account integrated with PIX, a platform for anticipating receivables and complete management of the financial agenda.
The value of the deal has not been revealed.
