The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Inc., launched on December 17, 2019, an equity investment fund of R$ 160 million focused on startups that develop products and Internet of Things (IoT) services. With the aim of fostering the development of IoT in Brazil, the fund will support early stage startups (seed capital and series A financing).
BNDES and Qualcomm plan to contribute 50% of the fund's total value, equivalent to R$80 million. Other investors will be invited to participate, helping in the composition of the full value. The fund will be managed by a manager to be selected by BNDES and Qualcomm through a selection notice, available on the development bank's website. Equity investment fund managers will be able to submit their proposals until February 7, 2020.
For the president of BNDES, Gustavo Montezano, the launch of the fund “comes at a good time for the resumption of economic growth” and “will contribute to the development of the startup and IoT ecosystem”. “Funds like this are innovative instruments to foster entrepreneurship in Brazil, especially in higher risk sectors, such as technology”, he ponders.
The head of the BNDES' Fund Investment Management Department, Filipe Borsato, explains that the fund is part of a corporate venture capital context, in which companies are relevant investors in the funds. “It is a trend that has a lot to contribute to the capital market and to innovation in the country”, he predicts.
The president for Latin America and senior vice president of Qualcomm, Rafael Steinhauser, says that the creation of the fund aligns with the company's strategic vision to boost the internet of things ecosystem in Brazil. “We want to engage with leading companies in different verticals, in order to explore the country's potential as a technology producer”, he explains. “In addition to the financial support, we will also contribute with our expertise in IoT, after all, we have been developing technologies in this field for at least a decade”.
As the senior director of Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and executive director of Qualcomm Ventures for Latin America, Alexandre Villela, IoT as a technological architecture that allows the connection of millions of devices to the cloud, without human intervention, for decision-making purposes. “At a time when companies seek productivity gains to increase their global competitiveness, the internet of things emerges as one of the pillars of digital transformation and advanced manufacturing – industry 4.0 – in companies”, he observes.
The fund's investment policy should include companies with hardware, software and data analysis applications, focused on strategic areas, such as: advanced manufacturing, smart cities, health, smart agro and residential IoT. The fund is in line with the National Plan for the Internet of Things, a public policy launched in June this year to develop the IoT ecosystem in the country, and with the new regulation of the Informatics Law, which allows electronics manufacturers to invest in incentivized resources. in venture capital funds.
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