SoftBank-Backed Loggi Valued Near $2 Billion in Fundraising
SoftBank-Backed Loggi Valued Near $2 Billion in Funding Round
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian delivery startup Loggi Tecnologia Ltda, which is backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Microsoft Corp., raised 1.15 billion reais ($205 million) in its latest funding round that now values the company at close to $2 billion.
The new round, the company’s largest yet, was led by CapSur Capital and included renowned Brazilian hedge fund manager Luis Stuhlberger’s Verde Asset Management among the backers for the first time, the firm said. About 75% of current investors participated, according to the firm.
Sao Paulo-based Loggi, which competes in Brazil with Colombian delivery startup Rappi SAS, plans to use the funds to boost its investments in technology and expand its network with new logistic centers, Chief Financial Officer Thibaud Lecuyer said in an interview.
The startup, founded in 2013 by Fabien Mendez and Arthur Debert, has been building a Brazil-wide logistics service that’s thrived amid the pick up in online sales during the pandemic. Loggi is currently able to reach about 54% of Brazil’s 210 million people and more than tripled the number of deliveries per day in the past two years to 350,000.
The funding round shows the new interest by local asset managers to make private-equity bets. Firms like Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes and Velt Partners, which focus on public companies, have been investing in private firms. Velt is also an investor in Loggi, while Constellation recently invested in e-commerce software provider VTEX, also backed by SoftBank.
Loggi is the first non-publicly traded company that Verde Asset Management has invested in. Verde, which manages about 54.5 billion reais, primarily focuses on fixed-income and public equities. Its flagship fund has a total return of over 18,800% since since its inception more than two decades ago.
“We’ve been in touch with Verde for years and their track record speaks for itself. They’ll help prepare Loggi for its next steps,” said Lecuyer. “Going public is one of the options ahead.”
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