RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon and one of the richest men in the world, made his first investment in a Brazilian startup. The chosen one was the fintech Stark Bank, a digital bank focused on solutions for companies.
The billionaire’s family fund, Bezos Expeditions, was part of a Series B round led by the venture capital firm Ribbit Capital, which invested US$45 million in Stark Bank. Also part of the investment were the founders of Airbnb, Kavak, Visa, Coinbase, some DST executives, investor Lachy Groom and the K5 Global fund.
Rafael Stark, co-founder and CEO of Stark Bank, says this is the third attempt to attract Bezos’ attention. Previously, the entrepreneur tried to present his startup through the founders of NotCo (the first Latin American startup invested by Amazon’s owner) and Maya Capital, a venture capital fund with Lara Lemann as a partner.
“The best way to present yourself to a fund is through someone who has already been invested in it. The problem is that Bezos Expedition does not allow direct presentation,” he says.
Even with the two ‘no’s’, Rafael did not give up, and, after closing the Series B round with Ribbit Capital, he went back to knock on Bezos’ door. This time, he tried to get closer through one of Stark Bank’s investors, a personal friend of the billionaire. “We got an appointment with the head of Bezos Expeditions and sent her the Stark Bank presentation. She liked our thesis and sent a memo to Bezos, who authorized the investment. It was all based on insistence,” he says.
The relationship is older with Ribbit Capital, known for its portfolio fintechs such as Nubank, BREX, and Robinhood. Rafael’s first contact with one of the fund’s partners, the American Nick Shalek, happened two years ago. Since then, the entrepreneur has kept in touch with Ribbit, hoping that they will join the startup one day.
“At first, they were a little afraid to invest in Stark Bank because of Cora (Brazilian fintech invested by Ribbit in 2021) for fear of a conflict of interest. But then they saw that we are focused on different audiences,” he says.
With this amount, Stark Bank intends to double its team from 30 to 60 employees and expand its product portfolio, including credit lines and acquiring services, with solutions such as payment links. Although he does not disclose revenue data, Rafael says that, since June 2021, the startup has already generated profit and moved R$1 billion (US$213 million) per month. The goal for 2022 is to grow ten times more.
FIGHTING THE BANKS
Engineer graduated from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), Rafael had the idea to create Stark Bank in 2018, when he worked developing applications for large companies.
During a project he was doing for Colgate, he needed an API (programming interface to integrate software or web platforms) for banking transactions. That was when I had the idea to create my own API. In the beginning, it was all manual; I entered the transactions by hand,” he says.
From then on, Stark began to serve other companies and develop new functionalities according to customer needs. One of the first to bet on fintech was Buser, which asked Stark to develop a platform for ticket reimbursement.
Since then, Stark fell into the taste of startups. Currently, the fintech has more than 300 companies as clients, among them Quinto Andar, Loft, Daki, Isaac, and Colgate itself. Today, the range of products offered includes foreign exchange, accounts payable and receivable solutions, corporate cards, and collection management via Boleto and Pix.
Like Nubank, Stark Bank is a digital bank that wants to fight the banks – in this case, competing in the corporate sector.
Rafael’s strategy to get his space among the giants is to invest in customized solutions designed for the needs of large companies. “Unlike the big banks, which replicate solutions that already exist for the individual consumer, we are creating a bank from scratch, reinventing the experience of large corporations,” he says.
The entrepreneur cites, for example, that at Stark, there is a dashboard that shows detailed spending, default rates, and average ticket, among other information that can help companies make better business decisions. With the corporate card, it is possible to limit spending by currency, country, type of establishment, and even spending frequency linked to cost centers.
“Investing a lot in the product and creating cases of companies that have already used our service, to convince others that it works, is our secret to attracting such well-known startups in such a short time,” he says.
BILLIONAIRES’ FUNDRAISER
The bet seems to be working, and before Bezos and Ribbit Capital, Stark Bank had already attracted some big names. Just four months ago, the fintech raised US$13 million in a Series A round led by angel investor Lachy Groom (ex-Stripe), the fund K5 Global, Iporanga Ventures, Norte Capital, in addition to the founders of companies like Dropbox, Figma, Rappi, D.Local, Wildlife, and Slack. With the new funding, Stark Bank has reached a market value of US$250 million.
“Some people joke with me, saying that I have discovered the fundraiser of billionaires,” jokes Rafael. “But in fact, besides having our own technology, we are a lean company that doesn’t operate by burning cash. It attracts the interest of funds.
However, the entrepreneur does not hide his enthusiasm to join the select group of startups that have conquered Bezos while looking forward to the moment of being face to face with the billionaire. “I came from Goiás; I lost my father very early; when would I imagine being Jeff Bezos’ partner? I believe that soon, at one of the events that Bezos Expedition holds, I will have the opportunity to meet and learn from him,” he concludes.
With information from Exame