Sul Inovação Fund to invest R$ 50 million in Southern companies

Investments will focus on companies with sales of up to R$ 3.6 million

 
Entrepreneurs in the southern region of Brazil gain another opportunity for growth with the creation of the Fundo Sul Inovação. Created by the manager FIR Capital BZPlan, it has R$ 50 million to invest in up to 12 companies in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The manager already operates the SC Fund, which has invested, since 2010, R$ 12 million in five companies Santa Catarina of technology.
 
The focus of the Sul Inovação Fund's investments will be on B2B businesses with annual sales of up to R$ 3.6 million, based on information and communication technology. According to Marcelo Ferrari Wolowski, the fund's CEO, investment in technology and innovation is now a necessity for any economic segment, so the sector must maintain its growth curve in the coming years. “Innovative companies have behavior disconnected from the macro economy and even in a bad scenario, technology-based businesses continue to grow”, highlights Wolowski.
 
Each company may receive up to R$ 7.5 million in investments. The goal is to allocate the entire resource over five years. “We are looking for a profile of more mature startups, who already have their business model working and preferably who are making money. More importantly, we are looking for qualified and multidisciplinary teams, which directly impact the operating performance of the investee”, comments the CEO, who founded BZ Plan in 2002 and has analyzed more than 800 businesses.
 
Being an entrepreneurs fund for entrepreneurs is one of the great differentials of Sul Inovação in relation to other venture capital funds in Brazil. His team includes names such as Marcelo Amorim, one of the founders of Anjos do Brasil and a member of the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC). Amorim specializes in creating and selling technology businesses: the three companies he founded were sold in the last two decades. Among the shareholders of the Sul Inovação Fund are Finep, the Paraná Development Agency, among other individuals and legal entities.
 
Fundo SC, also managed by FIR Capital BZPlan, has invested R$ 12 million since 2010 in five B2B startups in Santa Catarina with zero revenue and high risk in business modeling: Axado, national leader in freight management; Clube de Autores, responsible for the first Brazilian website that allows the free publication of 100% books on demand; CataMoeda, developer of equipment that seeks to solve the problems generated by the lack of change in trade; MyReks, a platform to recommend products and earn rewards for generated sales; and ClicBusiness, which launched a service to integrate e-procurement portals with the objective of composing a database of information of common interest about suppliers. Even with the unfavorable economy, all companies grew in the last year.