Brazil’s boostLAB, a world-level one-stop shop putting technology companies on the map

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – For the third year in a row, boostLAB, BTG Pactual’s business hub for technology companies, has been named one of the best financial innovation hubs in the world. The US magazine Global Finance distinguished “World’s Best Financial Innovation Lab” in 2021.

Launched in 2018, the boostLAB program aims to accelerate the value creation of startups and support entrepreneurs by bringing them closer to the financial market and providing them with access to capital.

Since its inception, more than 44 startups have been supported, 70% of which have worked with the Group.

In addition to two international awards, six startups have received investments from BTG Pactual: Agronow, Finpass, Spinet (majority investment of Líber Capital), Digesto, Pier Seguros, and Celcoin.

boostLAB is the only Brazilian representative to be included in all the lists in the three years of existence of the international ranking, with juries from several countries.

“We owe this performance to the work of several partners, mentors, and executives who dedicate time and capital to identify business opportunities between startups and companies in our group,” Frederico Pompeu, partner at BTG Pactual and head of boostLAB, said to Exame newspaper.

The firm focuses on scale-ups – companies that were once start-ups and have reached exponential growth potential – and has several verticals to bring these “advanced start-ups” and the financial market closer together.

“We want to be the bank of the tech ecosystem in Latin America. That’s why we help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and give them a real boost to reach higher altitudes,” says the head of boostLAB.

Two outstanding areas in boostLAB’s performance are its potentization program and its offer of scale-up financial products.

boostLAB is more than just an acceleration program. It offers selected companies the opportunity to participate in mentoring programs with more than 50 partners from BTG Pactual, senior executives from the market, and the mentoring network ACE Startups.

The selection process, called “batch,” is complex and involves more than 30 areas of BTG. In the end, between five and ten startups are selected. In the eight editions of the program, boostLAB has received more than 2,000 applications and has funded a total of 61 companies.

The eighth edition will take place from August to December this year and will focus on companies that accelerate the launch of new products and services from digital banks.

In addition, companies can also do business with the bank itself – according to Pompeu, this has happened with 70% of potential startups, including Celcoin, for which BTG uses APIs for bill payments, and iClubs, a startup the bank hired for BTG+’s customer loyalty system.

Entrepreneurs who participate in the program also have access to more than R$200,000 (about US$38,000) worth of loans.

BoostLAB invests in the capital of startups through a R$200 million fund in its corporate venture capital division and is a bridge to other areas of BTG, which can help with foreign exchange transactions, banking as a service, and IPOs, among others.

Source: exame

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