Brazil added 10 unicorns in 2021, reaching a new record level for the country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2021, Brazil had ten new unicorns – a status awarded to startups that reached a market valuation of one billion dollars. This is a record number of unicorns in one year, accompanied by an equally record-breaking volume of investment in scalable, innovative, and technological companies founded in Brazil.

In total, the country has accumulated 26 unicorns. The first Brazilian billionaire startup was transportation app 99 in January 2018, and this year unicorns have spread into e-commerce, media, fintech, security, and logistics. Check out the complete list of Brazil’s new startup billionaires in 2021:

1 – MadeiraMadeira

Founded: 2008
Founding city: Curitiba
When it became a unicorn: January 2021
Sector: electronic commerce

Brothers Daniel and Marcelo Scandian always thought the future was secure thanks to their family flooring business. But during the 2008 crisis, the company went bankrupt. To sell the machines from the bankrupt factory, the two set up a website that gradually became one of the largest furniture e-commerce companies in the country.

MadeiraMadeira sells third-party products and also has its own furniture line called Cabecasa. The company collected 2 million products and became a unicorn after a Series D of US$190 million.

2 – Hotmart

Year founded: 2011
City of incorporation: Belo Horizonte
When it became a unicorn: March 2021
Sector: e-commerce/media

Hotmart provides a website for content creators to offer and manage their digital products such as online courses, e-books, and podcasts. The company claims to have 30 million users in 188 countries, with 490,000 registered products. The company claims to become a unicorn in 2020 but only officially announced that status after a US$735 million Series C round.

3 – Mercado Bitcoin

Year of foundation: 2013
Place of foundation: São Paulo
When it became a unicorn: July 2021
Sector: Fintech

Mercado Bitcoin was founded in 2012 as a brokerage for buying and selling cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. A significant wave of demand for Bitcoin would not come until 2017 – catapulting the startup.

In July 2021, Mercado Bitcoin became the first unicorn to work with cryptocurrencies in Brazil. Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank invested US$200 million in the company, bringing its market valuation to US$2.1 billion. Today, Mercado Bitcoin has 2.8 million customers.

4 – unico

Year founded: 2007
Place of founding: São Paulo
When it became a unico: August 2021
Sector: Security

Formerly called unico Digital Access, unico works with digital identity protection. The startup offers solutions such as biometrics for identity authentication and electronic signatures. It enables online shopping, credit applications, and digital hiring activities.

Unico became a unicorn after a R$625 million funding round. Today, it serves about 800 customers. These include banks, marketplaces, and retailers such as B2W, Carrefour, Magazine Luiza, and Vivo.

5 – Frete.com

Year founded: 2008 (FreteBras) / 2013 (CargoX)
Founding city: Goiás (FreteBras) / São Paulo (CargoX)
When it became a unicorn: November 2021
Sector: Logistics

Frete.com is a holding company that combines two well-known companies in the logistics sector: trucker scanning startup CargoX and freight trading platform FreteBras.

This November, Frete.com became the third Brazilian unicorn in the bureaucratic and complex logistics market, after delivery companies iFood and Loggi. But it is the first unicorn to specifically target heavy freight. Unicorn status was awarded to the group after a US$200 million investment. For 2021, Frete.com expects year-on-year growth of 90% and freight volumes of R$100 billion. For 2022, it expects further growth of 90%.

Fretebras was founded in Goiás in 2008 and has shared principal investors with CargoX since 2019. CargoX was founded in 2013 by Argentine Federico Veja. The story of the entrepreneur, who had the idea on a bike ride through Patagonia and received more than 200 rejections from investors, is told in the following episode of the podcast From Zero To The Top:

6 – CloudWalk

Year founded: 2013
Founding City: São Paulo
When it became a unicorn: November 2021
Sector: fintech

CloudWalk competes in the payments market with companies such as Cielo, GetNet, PagSeguro, Rede, and Stone. For the company, the future of this sector lies in technologies such as digital transactions, blockchain, cloud computing, and stablecoins (cryptocurrencies linked to an asset to control their volatility).

Luis Silva co-founded CloudWalk in 2013. Its best-known product is the InfinitePay ATM. The development of the technology and the acquisition of operating licenses have led CloudWalk to become genuinely operational only in 2019.

The fintech company has reached a market valuation of US$2.15 billion with a US$150 million Series C investment round. CloudWalk now serves 150,000 stores in 4,300 Brazilian cities, processes US$2.4 billion in transactions annually (twelve times the transactions in October 2021), and grows 40% every quarter.

7 – Daki and JOKR

Year established: 2021
Founding city: Sao Paulo (Daki) / Mexico City (JOKR).
When it becomes a unicorn: December 2021
Sector: Logistics

Like Frete.com, digital marketplaces Daki and JOKR are another cases of a unicorn after a union. The Brazilian company and the Mexican company merged in July this year. The group announced a US$260 million investment that gave it a US$1.2 billion valuation in December.

Daki was founded by entrepreneurs Alex Bretzner, Rafael Vasto, and Rodrigo Maroja. The company began with a pilot store in the Pinheiros neighborhood of São Paulo after an angel invested R$2 million. Shortly after, in March, JOKR was born.

The startup was founded by entrepreneur Ralf Wenzel, who founded delivery platform Foodpanda and later sold it to European delivery giant DeliveryHero. Wenzel was also one of the operating partners of the Softbank Latin America Fund, a fund created by the Japanese telecommunications giant to focus on Latin American startups.

Daki focuses on the Brazilian market, while JOKR targets other Latin American countries and the United States. Daki has 60 stores in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, while JOKR has 200 of them in 15 cities worldwide. The delivery group cites 15-minute delivery, free freight, and 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. operation as differences. The plan is to reach 150 distribution centers by the end of 2022.

8 – Merama

Year of foundation: 2021
Founding city: Mexico City and São Paulo.
When it becomes a unicorn: December 2021
Sector: Electronic commerce

According to a survey by PayPal Brazil, there are 1.6 million virtual stores in Brazil – nearly 800 virtual stores were created per day between July 2020 and July 2021. Merama aims for e-commerce growth across Latin America – and its investors share that interest.

The e-commerce startup has received a US$1.2 billion valuation after a US$60 million investment, adding to its US$225 million Series B.

Merama launched in January this year with simultaneous headquarters in Brazil and Mexico. The startup seeks, buys a majority stake, and develops brands that sell products through marketplaces such as Amazon, Americanas, Magazine Luiza, Mercado Livre, and Via.

Merama advocates an intermediate model between creating brands and acquiring 100% of third-party brands. The brands will receive support in forecasting demand and inventory, managing distribution channels, including other Latin American countries, and digital marketing on marketplaces or their e-commerce sites.

The e-commerce startup has already acquired a majority stake in more than 20 companies, corresponding to 30 brands. Merama expects cumulative revenue from its businesses to reach US$300 million in 2021 – the estimate was US$100 million at the A-Series time and US$250 million at the B-Series time. By 2022, cumulative sales from its stores are expected to double to US$600 million.

9 – Olist

Year established: 2015
City of incorporation: Curitiba
When it will become a unicorn: December 2021
Sector: e-commerce

Olist was founded in 2015 with the idea of being the “biggest department store within a department store.” The startup began with Olist Store, which brings store owners to marketplaces. The startup connects sellers with sites such as Amazon, Americanas, Carrefour, Casas Bahia, Extra, Submarino, MadeiraMadeira and Mercado Livre.

The startup has expanded to set up online stores in 2020. Olist Shops allows you to open your e-commerce for free and in three minutes, sharing the store link on social networks and integrated warehouse and logistics systems.

Olist has reached a market valuation of US$1 billion after raising US$1 billion in a Series E round with investors. The company targets micro to mid-sized entrepreneurs. Olist has already grown 300% this year. In total, more than 100,000 store owners are now served by the startup’s solutions.

10 – Facily

Founded: 2018
Place of foundation: São Paulo
When it will become a unicorn: December 2021
Sector: e-commerce

Facily started more than three years ago as a social marketplace: people join together to place larger orders online to get discounts. Learn more about the startup’s business model, inspired by the Chinese app WeChat.

The acceleration of e-commerce in Brazil accompanied this proposal. Facily increased its sales 46 times between January and October this year. In October alone, more than 7 million orders were placed.

After expanding its Series D round by US$135 million, the startup became a unicorn. The Series D round was worth US$250 million. According to the company, the expansion will bolster the investments it has already made in logistics and customer experience and underpin its expansion plans for 2022.

*Nuvemshop did not make it into this list because the unicorn’s headquarters are in Argentina, although Brazil is a relevant market for the startup. The overall balance of Brazilian unicorns does not include data center company Ascenty and digital bank C6 Bank.

With information from Do Zero Ao Topo