BNDES will invest R$ 200 million in startups

Criatec 3 Fund will be managed by Inseed Investimentos

On February 15, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) launched Criatec 3, a fund aimed at investing in innovative companies with priority operations in the nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology, agribusiness and new materials sectors. The third version of Criatec is launched after the success of the previous funds and will have seven centers of regional activity and assets of R$ 200 million.
 
Inseed Investimentos will be the national manager of the Fund. In addition to BNDES, the State of Amazonas Development Agency (Afeam), the Development Bank of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Badesul), the Development Bank of the State of Espírito Santo (Bandes), the Development Bank of the State of Minas Gerais State (BDMG), the Extremo Sul Development Bank (BRDE), the Minas Gerais Research Support Foundation (Fapemig), the Paraná State Development Agency (Fomento PR), the company Valid S /A, private investors and Inseed itself.
 
The seven centers of regional action, to be approved by the Criatec 3 Investment Committee, will be distributed in the following states: one in Amazonas or Pará; one in Pernambuco or Paraíba; one in Bahia; one in Santa Catarina or Paraná; and three in cities in the Southeast Region, one of which must be in Minas Gerais and the other in Espírito Santo.
 
Companies with annual net operating revenue of a maximum of R$ 12 million may be supported. The maximum investment amount per company, in a first capitalization, will be R$ 3 million. At least 25% of the Fund's portfolio must be invested in companies with annual net operating income of less than R$ 3 million.
 
BNDES, through BNDESPAR, will invest R$ 130 million in Criatec 3. The other quotaholders should add contributions of around R$ 70 million and there is still opportunity for investors who want to invest up to R$ 20 million.
 
Criatec 1 and 2 – The success of the results of the previous funds led BNDES to launch the third version of Criatec. Companies invested in by Criatec 1, launched in 2007, showed high growth, with an average increase in gross revenue above 30% per year. In addition, five of them are among the 100 Brazilian companies that grew the most.
 
The investee companies were still able to raise, until December 2014, an additional R$ 80 million, a value higher than the contributions of the Criatec 1 Fund, of R$ 66.2 million. This shows that the technology-based start-ups supported by the fund were able to demonstrate their attractiveness to the financial system and the capital market, including the private sector.

The Criatec 1 companies have already applied for 37 patents in Brazil and nine abroad. Of these, 11 have already been registered (10 in Brazil and one abroad). The Fund also helped small companies to bring their innovations to market and, currently, these companies already have 857 products, of which 108 were launched in 2014, and 50 new products in the first half of 2015 alone. This demonstrates that the investees remained innovating, even after the investment in Criatec 1. Some also received international awards.
 
The first fund invested in 36 companies between 2008 and 2015. Criatec 2, started at the end of 2013, has already approved investments in 18 companies, of which 15 have already been invested in and three are undergoing due diligence. By the end of its investment period, December 2017, Criatec 2 should invest in up to 36 companies.