The volume of investments in startups aspiring to become unicorns – with a market value of more than US$1 billion before going public – dropped by more than 50% last year.
From US$9.8 billion contributed to these companies in 2021, the amount dropped to about US$5 billion in 2022, according to Distrito’s survey for the “Unicorn Race” report.
With less capital available in investment rounds, the number of Brazilian startups that achieved unicorn status last year fell dramatically: from ten in 2021 to just two in 2022 – the fintechs Dock and Neon.
Both reached a billion-dollar market value after funding rounds of US$300 million and US$110 million, respectively.
According to Gustavo Gierun, CEO and co-founder of Distrito, in addition to the capital restriction, 2022 was also marked by much greater selectivity on the part of investors.
This year, the CEO believes that difficulties should continue, “however, greater investor stringency with tech companies does not mean that new startups will not be able to achieve unicorn status,” he says in a report.
Currently, there are 23 Brazilian unicorns. Together, they amount to US$13.5 billion in investments over the years.
The main ones are C6 Bank, Gympass, iFood, Nubank, and QuintoAndar.
According to Distrito’s report, the ten Brazilian startups with the most significant potential to become unicorns in the coming years totaled US$1.4 billion in investments over 38 rounds last year.
See the startups that can become unicorns:
(in order of founding)
Petlove
Founded: 1999
Sector: Pet market
Last funding: $145.9 million
Leading Investors: Monashees, L Catterton and Kaszekt
Origo Energia
Founded: 2010
Sector: Energy
Last funding raised: US$ 145 million
Leading investors: Mitsui, TPG Art, BLAO, MOV, and Augment Infrastructure
Alura
Founded: 2013
Sector: Education
Last funding: not disclosed
Leading investors: Seek and Crescera
Evino
Founded: 2013
Sector: Food and Beverage
Last funding: US$ 127.2 million
Leading investors: Vinci Partners, XP Investimentos, and JCR Group
Omie
Founded: 2013
Industry: Finance
Last funding raised: US$110 million
Leading Investors: Astella, SoftBank, and Riverwood
Cerc
Founded: 2015
Industry: Finance
Last funding: $100 million
Leading Investors: Parallax Ventures and Valor Capital Group
Pismo
Founded: 2016
Industry: Finance
Last raised: $108 million
Leading investors: Softbank, Accel, and Amazon
Solfácil
Founded: 2018
Industry: Energy
Last funding: $130 million
Leading investors: Valor Capital, QED Investors, and Softbank
Cora
Founded: 2019
Sector: Finance
Last funding: $116 million
Leading investors: Ribbit Capital, Kaszek and Greenoaks
Flash
Founded: 2019
Industry: Fintech
Last funding: $100 million
Leading investors: Tiger Global Management, Monashees, Global Founders, and Citius
With information from Forbes
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