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Jeff Bezos, The Second Richest Man In The World, Makes A Million-Dollar Investment In Brazil. It Is The First Time The Fund Participates In An Investment In The Country.
Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, with a fortune of around US$ 170 billion, is investing for the first time in a startup in Brazil. The fintech was created by young Goiânia native Rafael Stark. The “artistic” surname, which also names his startup, is clearly inspired by Tony Stark, the alter ego of the comic book and movie hero Iron Man.
The million-dollar investment of US$ 45 million —equivalent to R$ 212 million— was announced on Monday (11) by the fintech Stark Bank, where Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, marks the first investment round in Brazil.
In Latin America, the billionaire Bezos’s fund had previously invested in the Chilean unicorn NotCo. SEA Capital and current investors Lachy Groom and K5 Global also participated in the round, along with Airbnb founder, Kavak, and executives from DST, Visa, and Coinbase.
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The investments come four months after Stark Bank’s first round, which raised around US$ 13 million and fwas led by Lachy Groom, former executive of financial infrastructure platform Stripe, and included founders of startups like Rappi, Dropbox, Slack, Coinbase, Flexport, Figma, dLocal, and Wildlife.
More Than 300 Companies Like Quinto Andar, Loft, Buser, Isaac, Bitso, Daki, And Colgate Make Up The Stark Bank Portfolio
More than 300 companies make up the Stark Bank portfolio. Among them are Quinto Andar, Loft, Buser, Isaac, Bitso, Daki, and Colgate.
The fintech offers banking services focused on technology for startups in the country valued at US$ 1 billion, better known as “unicorns.”
Among the products offered are cash management, corporate card, customized payment approval flow, cost center management, payroll, and billing management via boleto and Pix.
In addition, the company reported that throughout the year, investments, credit lines, and payment receipt via card will be added.
Currently, the company offers other businesses, many of them also startups, services like corporate card, payroll, billing management via bank boleto and PIX, as well as management and automation of supplier payments and reimbursements.
“In addition to transactional operations, we deliver dashboards (graphic information panels), expense control, reconciliation, and financial management, allowing companies to make decisions based on data”, Stark explained in a statement about the business.
Among the company’s clients are traditional brands, such as Colgate, and large startups, like Quinto Andar, Loft, and Buser.
Stark also plans to start what it calls infrastructure sales to companies, such as API interfaces for participants of PIX and credit cards with the client company’s brand (card as a Service) and the issuance of bank credit notes (CCBs) to other fintechs. This latter product would allow Stark’s clients to use the CCBs to grant loans.
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