SAO PAULO: Brazilian startup platform
Velvet
announced on Thursday that it had raised $200 million to expand operations in emerging markets.
According to
Edouard de Montmort, the Brazilian co-founder of Velvet, the funds will be used to make 40 deals in the next 12 months, with 20 in Latin America, 10 in India, eight in
Southeast Asia
and five in Africa.
Formally created last September, the platform buys stakes in promising, privately owned startups, allowing their partners and employees to monetize their equity before the company has gone public.
Initially using resources from the founders themselves, Velvet last year began to involve resources from third parties in the business, such as the Estonia-based venture capital fund Yolo, which led this latest round of fundraising.
The average purchase amounts range from $5 million to $10 million for startups valued between $500 million and $2 billion, and which have already received contributions from large venture capital funds.
In 2022 alone, Velvet has bought shares from partners from startups such as Nuvemshop (Argentina), Credijusto (Mexico) and Open (India), for a total amount equivalent to 165 million reais ($31.52 million). Velvet estimates its total assets under management to be worth about $230 million.
"Our goal is to be the largest secondary market company in Latin America, India, Africa and Southeast Asia," the executive told Reuters.
Later this year, the company plans to launch a marketplace to resell acquired stakes to wealth managers operating in emerging markets, Montmort said.