INVESTMENT
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2 launched in 2013 and Criatec 3 in 2016. The evolution of Criatec is a parallel with the industry’s evolution itself. Criatec 1 had an amount of USD¹ 29.2 million capitalized from only two investors, BNDES and a regional bank, in which the first invested 80% of the capital. Criatec 2 was able to attract more investors, including six other regional banks and development agencies and Criatec 3 counted with 15 quota holders, this time including private investors. These funds have raised USD¹ 54.3 million and USD¹ 63.3 million respectively. With the diverse profile of Criatec 2 and 3, BNDES reduced its participation to about 60% of the total volume, indicating that the bank’s role of attracting new players to the national market worked. “BNDES is the main investors in VC in Brazil. Today it has USD¹ 291.1 million capital committed in 16 funds, 10 of them are currently in investment phase. Almost half of this amount is invested at the Criatec funds. Criatec has originated many success cases, including in the health area, such as Magnamed, a producer of medical equipment that originated from the university and now exports to many countries. Before Criatec there was a vacuum, we did not have a well-developed VC scenario in Brazil.” states Gabriel Gomes, Head of Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments of BNDES. The history of Criatec comes together with the maturing of the Brazilian innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. More and more projects and companies are being originated from the university and entrepreneurs are increasingly searching for new business opportunities and launching new ventures. On the other hand, many investors started looking at this market, such as foreign investors and funds that have installed in Brazil looking for this potential. BNDES has some new VC initiatives. One
of them is the Primatec fund, in partnership with FINEP and other regional institutions. It has available USD¹ 29.2 million for companies that have undergone an incubation process. BNDES contributed with 40% of the fund’s total value. Another initiative is a fund of venture debts, a new instrument for Brazil but already established in other countries. It focuses in companies that already received VC and have proven its business model, but do not want to further dilute its capital to finance its expansion. Lastly, a new fund of co-investment with angel investors will be created, to provide smaller tickets directed at companies at even earlier stages than seed capital. The fund and the angels will invest between USD¹ 29.1 and USD¹ 145.9 thousand in each supported company. “BNDES focus on market gaps. Many investors come to Brazil looking for IT or incremental innovation, for example. BNDES foster more technological knowledge, it tries to make these investors also open to other areas such as health, equipment, Internet of Things, and others. Biosciences is important because the country has a strong technical knowledge-base in it. From the market side, Brazil has industries in this area that can absorb this innovation and we have one of the biggest health markets in the world. Brazil is a very interesting barn for new investment and technologies. Investors should pay more attention, specially to the biotechnology market, both because of the ideas generated and the country’s market potential.” concludes Mr. Gomes. FINEP also plays a key role in structuring the VC market in Brazil. Its first initiative was the Inovar Program in 2000 that aimed at developing this industry and has brought together
4. BNDES, 2015. Capital de risco e o desenvolvimento de empresas de base tecnológica no Brasil – a experiência dos fundos Criatec e perspectivas. Available at: https://web.bndes.gov.br/bib/jspui/handle/1408/9619