🦆 I'm No Economist #26: TOTVS is a "Giant of SaaS" in Latam
Take no advice from me. I'm No Economist
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I'm No Economist is a newsletter about global investment trends 💰
Here you'll read digests and updates on what's going on in Venture Capital, Private Equity, Global Macroeconomy, and my Entrepreneurship Journey - all subjects I'm fascinated with and have strong opinions about.
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🟢 Superhuman for WhatsApp (we need a name for this)
Seriously, help us find a cool name.
If you're a subscriber, you heard that we're building a product that is going to completely change your relationship with your WhatsApp inbox:
We don't want to be obvious and choose a mashup name like "SomethingWhats” or “WASomething”. We also don't want it to sound too general. Maybe a pun?
That's not a priority, though. It's fine for now, as we're working on the first version for internal testing - then later to a beta user cohort.
At the same time, we're nailing down the strategy for growth, but still feel that it is something that we're only able with good initial user feedback. We'll learn with usage, and community dynamics and put the right incentives in place for a great user experience when the time comes.
Right now I can tell you that we're beyond excited with this product and are giving development the right amount of priority.
Until then, are you overwhelmed with your WhatsApp inbox?
Book a chat with me so I can learn more from it and build you the solution you need:
⚡️ Copel invests in MOVE
The Copel Ventures I fund, managed by VOX Capital and dedicated to energy sector investments, has made its first investment of R$ 3.5 million in Move, a startup specializing in intelligent electric vehicle charging systems.
The fund focuses on five key areas in energy: renewable energy, innovative processes adhering to ESG practices, energy-as-a-service, smart cities, and asset management. For more information, you can read the full article here.
I've talked about before how software ate the world, but already spat it out. I see now that I underestimated the potential that we still have to explore on the software end.
But it's undeniable that infrastructure is going to be necessary. And Copel's fund is a great sign they're already moving fast in the right direction. It's great to see an investment from a relevant energy company in Brazil. They will keep deploying its R$150M fund for the next 5 years.
I went to Curitiba/PR this week to finally meet Copel's and Vox's teams in person for the first time. This has been an exciting project I've been involved in since last year while working alongside Beta-i.
If you know an Energytech (or a startup that is solving adjacent problems for the energy sector: fintech, internal processes, CRM, etc) let me know by replying to this e-mail!
🦆 Part I: The Untold Stories of TOTVS, the Largest Software Company in LatAm
Did you get the duck emoji yet? 😎
Welcome back to "Giants of SaaS"!
This is the second edition of a series portraying the untold stories behind the most valuable SaaS companies in the region.
This time we uncover TOTVS (B3:TOTS3) a real hidden gem in tech in Latin America.
Famous for its amazing feat of owning the ERP market in Brazil. Their journey is among the titans of the tech industry - not only locally, but globally.
And although the company may be flying under the radar outside of Brazil, TOTVS is the indisputable unsung giant in the region.
As usual, this article will feature the stories from the companies’ early days, interviews with the founders, and executives, and analyses from renowned investment firms.
The unusual bit is that this story will be divided into 2 different articles.
It was impossible (for us at least) to tell TOTVS' story without making sure its pre-IPO inception is meticulously explored, as it shows how amazing it was to have the vision the founders had before the microcomputer was a thing.
Up next, we'll be featuring more exciting companies like Vtex, Gympass, Olist, and many more. Stay tuned!
Until then, have an immersive experience in Part I of TOTVS’ story:
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