In July last year, the founders of Barte - Portuguese Caetano Lacerda (ex-Deutsche Bank and Tractable) and Brazilian Raphael Dyxklay (ex-Creditas, Loft and Olist) - told Finsiders firsthand the plans of the then recently launched B2B payments fintech. At the time, the company was only three months old and had already received a pre-seed round of R$6.5 million from Global Founders Capital (GFC), Venture Friends and Flash Ventures.
Now, about eight months later, Barte has raised a new investment to scale operations and grow 10-fold for the second year in a row. The fintech has just raised a check of R$ 16 million in a round led by funds NXTP (investor of fintechs such as Capim, Pomelo and Payjoy) and Force Over Mass (which makes its debut in the Brazilian market), with participation from current investor Venture Friends.
"The investment ends up being a consequence of what we have done in the last year. Our traction went very well, and we understood that the market wanted what Barte was developing. From there, the conversation with investors is natural," says Caetano, in an interview with Finsiders. "We raised what we wanted, with fair valuation, and we had even more offers than we needed," says the entrepreneur, when asked about how the "fundraising" went amid the unfavorable scenario for new funding.
The proposal is to solve the cash flow and liquidity challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Currently with 2,000 companies using its solution, the fintech has as clients, for example, service providers such as accounting firms and consulting firms, equipment suppliers such as parts manufacturers, or even technology businesses, including B2B e-commerces and marketplaces. "Our long-term vision is to serve the long tail of SMEs, underserved in payments and access to capital," says Caetano.
After the first months of operation, with R$ 20 million moved on the platform, Barte now wants to gain robustness, expand the business and increase the product. By 2022, the fintech says to have increased 10 times the transacted volume and this year expects to repeat the result - at least. Growing means, for example, maturing the acquisition channels, the payment product, and raising a debt structure for the credit business.
The startup already offers receivables anticipation with its own resources and is preparing to have its first funding vehicle, which can be a receivables investment fund (FIDCs) or another structure. "FIDC is an option, but not the only one. It is still too early to comment on what the final structure will be. We are studying the details, structuring this front, in parallel with others", affirms Caetano, without giving further information.
In relation to the first operations with receivables anticipation, the entrepreneur says that the default is "reduced" and the rates are at a "healthy" level. For him, it is still early to talk about this vertical of the business. "Credit is a product that you have to scale thinking about what you are doing. It's one side of the equation, but we always start with payments. The more transactions that go through Barte, the better our underwriting models will be."
Micro and small companies account for more than 93% of the CNPJs in Brazil, according to the federal government's Companies Map. According to the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), small businesses generate income of approximately R$ 420 billion per year.
No wonder, several fintechs target this audience to offer from payments to credit, including financial management - an example is F360, a financial management platform specialized in retail, which expects to increase its customer base by 50% this year.
"In accounts receivable, there are some solutions, often B2C-oriented. In payments, there are also several. But there is no complete cash flow management solution, with access to capital, for B2B SMEs," defines Caetano.
Original Article in Finsiders
In July last year, the founders of Barte - Portuguese Caetano Lacerda (ex-Deutsche Bank and Tractable) and Brazilian Raphael Dyxklay (ex-Creditas, Loft and Olist) - told Finsiders firsthand the plans of the then recently launched B2B payments fintech. At the time, the company was only three months old and had already received a pre-seed round of R$6.5 million from Global Founders Capital (GFC), Venture Friends and Flash Ventures.
Now, about eight months later, Barte has raised a new investment to scale operations and grow 10-fold for the second year in a row. The fintech has just raised a check of R$ 16 million in a round led by funds NXTP (investor of fintechs such as Capim, Pomelo and Payjoy) and Force Over Mass (which makes its debut in the Brazilian market), with participation from current investor Venture Friends.
"The investment ends up being a consequence of what we have done in the last year. Our traction went very well, and we understood that the market wanted what Barte was developing. From there, the conversation with investors is natural," says Caetano, in an interview with Finsiders. "We raised what we wanted, with fair valuation, and we had even more offers than we needed," says the entrepreneur, when asked about how the "fundraising" went amid the unfavorable scenario for new funding.
The proposal is to solve the cash flow and liquidity challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Currently with 2,000 companies using its solution, the fintech has as clients, for example, service providers such as accounting firms and consulting firms, equipment suppliers such as parts manufacturers, or even technology businesses, including B2B e-commerces and marketplaces. "Our long-term vision is to serve the long tail of SMEs, underserved in payments and access to capital," says Caetano.
After the first months of operation, with R$ 20 million moved on the platform, Barte now wants to gain robustness, expand the business and increase the product. By 2022, the fintech says to have increased 10 times the transacted volume and this year expects to repeat the result - at least. Growing means, for example, maturing the acquisition channels, the payment product, and raising a debt structure for the credit business.
The startup already offers receivables anticipation with its own resources and is preparing to have its first funding vehicle, which can be a receivables investment fund (FIDCs) or another structure. "FIDC is an option, but not the only one. It is still too early to comment on what the final structure will be. We are studying the details, structuring this front, in parallel with others", affirms Caetano, without giving further information.
In relation to the first operations with receivables anticipation, the entrepreneur says that the default is "reduced" and the rates are at a "healthy" level. For him, it is still early to talk about this vertical of the business. "Credit is a product that you have to scale thinking about what you are doing. It's one side of the equation, but we always start with payments. The more transactions that go through Barte, the better our underwriting models will be."
Micro and small companies account for more than 93% of the CNPJs in Brazil, according to the federal government's Companies Map. According to the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), small businesses generate income of approximately R$ 420 billion per year.
No wonder, several fintechs target this audience to offer from payments to credit, including financial management - an example is F360, a financial management platform specialized in retail, which expects to increase its customer base by 50% this year.
"In accounts receivable, there are some solutions, often B2C-oriented. In payments, there are also several. But there is no complete cash flow management solution, with access to capital, for B2B SMEs," defines Caetano.
Original Article in Finsiders