SoftBank Enters Latin America's E-Commerce Industry With New Bet
SoftBank Enters Latin America's E-Commerce Industry With New Bet
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. is leading a $110 million investment in Brazilian e-commerce company MadeiraMadeira, tapping a relatively unexplored sector in its multibillion-dollar deal binge in Latin America.
The money will be used to develop technology, boost logistics and improve the customer experience, MadeiraMadeira Chief Executive Officer Daniel Scandian said. Other investors in the round include Light Street Capital and Flybridge Capital Partners, which was an early backer of the startup. The Curitiba-based firm previously raised $38.8 million.
MadeiraMadeira, founded in 2009, sells its own products and those of other merchants. Revenue reached 515 million reais ($126.2 million) in 2018 and the company expects to almost double that amount this year, according to the CEO.
SoftBank expects MadeiraMadeira to lead the digital transformation of Brazil’s growing home goods segment, according to Paulo Passoni, managing investment partner of SoftBank Group International’s Latin America fund.
SoftBank has already doled out more than $1 billion of its fund launched in March, with investments in Rappi, Gympass, Creditas, Loggi, QuintoAndar, Banco Inter, Clip and Volanty.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vinícius Andrade in São Paulo at vandrade3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brad Olesen at bolesen3@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Jillian Ward
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