Startup Swile earned unicorn status by raising $200 million; and this could mean more jobs in the Brazilian IT sector in the coming years
Human resources startup Swile earned unicorn status by raising $200 million in its Series D funding round and increasing the company's valuation to more than $1 billion. Around here, the contribution should translate into more jobs. “Our expectation is to expand the company's workforce, totaling 700 employees in Latin America in 2022”, says Soubeyrand.
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Startup abandons meal vouchers and enters the digital age
Swile started out as Lunchr, which featured a Mastercard and mobile app to replace the meal vouchers given by companies to their employees in the form of vouchers. In 2020, Lunchr changed its name to Swile, to expand its product offering. Today, Swile also allows companies to incorporate gift and mobility vouchers into their cards.
Over the past 4 years, the company claims to have gained 13% share of the French corporate benefits market. After integrating its services with well-established tech companies such as Doctolib, Spotify and Airbnb, Swile now offers benefits to companies of all sectors and sizes – from small businesses to France's largest private company, Carrefour.
The company currently operates in France and the Brazilian market with around 500 employees, 500.000 users and 15.000 corporate customers, including Carrefour, Le Monde, PSG, Airbnb, Spotify, Red Bull and TikTok.
Contribution earned will be invested in state-of-the-art technologies
Startup claims that the proceeds from this round will help with its technological advancement and international expansion. Swile will also launch new digital solutions with its two flagship products, including the Swile card – the all-in-one payment solution and the Swile app – the “super app”, just for employees initially. The Swile Card is a smart card that manages all corporate benefits such as meal vouchers, gift cards, mobility, and much more.
The company says that other benefits such as vacation vouchers, salary advances and others will be added in the coming months with the aim of transforming the Swile Card into the card of choice for employees who want to manage their corporate expenses.
After being in beta for the last 12 months, soon the company has promised that it will officially launch the Swile App, an app dedicated to the employee experience. The app's features focus on team building and cohesion, with internal communication, recognition and praise between team members.
1.000 new employees by the end of 2022
To expand internationally and further accelerate growth, Startup Swile highlighted that it will continue to look for the best talent and intends to recruit 500 employees by the end of 2022, in Brazil and France, doubling the size of the company.
These new talent will help sustain Swile's organization, which has a workforce spread across France – 25% in Paris, 25% in Montpellier, 25% remote and another 25% in Brazil. The company claims that its local roots in the Occitania region of southern France have already created 150 jobs and contribute to the region's attractiveness and development.
“The fact that Swile has become our 19th unicorn is a shining symbol of how far French technology has advanced. In just a few years, startups have been engines of growth and job creation across the country. In 2017, the French tech ecosystem had only 3 major startups. Now there are 19”, highlighted Cédric, Secretary of State for the Digital Sector.
Recent investments in Brazil
In early 2021, Swile acquired Startup Vee Beneficios for its launch in Brazil, the world's largest employee benefits market. Currently, there are 120 Swile employees operating in São Paulo.
With almost 50 million employees qualified for benefits and a digitization rate of almost 100%, Brazil represents an exponential growth opportunity for Startup and the promise is that, by the end of 2022, 700 new job opportunities will be generated.
