London-Based Venture-Capital Firm has fund targeting tech companies in emerging markets
By Simon Clark
Amadeus Capital invested $4.5 million in a Brazilian online insurance broker called Bidu.com, the London-based venture-capital firm's first investment from its fund targeting technology companies in emerging markets.
The purchase of the undisclosed stake in Bidu was made from Amadeus's $75 million digital-prosperity fund, raised last year to buy stakes in companies that provide online and mobile services to the rapidly expanding middle classes in the developing world.
Amadeus, led by Chief Executive Officer Anne Glover, is betting the Internet will enable people from Brazil to Nigeria to gain rapid access to financial services.
"There is a big trend of financial enablement through services, which happened offline in Europe and the U.S., that is happening online first in emerging markets," Amadeus partner Andrea Traversone said in an interview.
Bidu plans to start selling other financial products to become the Brazilian equivalent of U.K. price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com, Mr. Traversone said. "It has the potential of being a $1 billion business," he said. "This is a company that—if successful, as proven by Moneysupermarket and others in Europe and the U.S.—has got the likes to be an IPO."
Successful past investments include online holiday retailer Lastminute.com and biotechnology company Solexa.
Bidu, founded by Brazilian entrepreneur Eldes Mattiuzzo, sold more than $18 million of insurance premiums last year. Amadeus led an $8.9 million financing round in Bidu. Amadeus partner Pat Burtis will join Bidu's board.
Mr. Mattiuzzo said in an interview that he expects Bidu's sales of insurance premiums to more than triple to $60 million this year. The company currently sells auto and travel insurance and credit cards. It plans to sell home insurance, life insurance, personal loans and mortgages.
"We believe it is possible to achieve this valuation in four to five years," he said. Less than 1 % of insurance in Brazil is sold online, and he expects that to grow to between 20% and 30% in the next four to five years.
Mr. Mattiuzzo, 46, shut down his last company, an online peer-to-peer lender called Fairplace, because the Brazilian central bank insisted that the business should be regulated as a financial company. He says he won't have problems with Bidu because it is already regulated as a broker.
Write to Simon Clark at simon.clark@wsj.com
Source The Wall Street Journal
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