The newly launched venture capital fund Redpoint e.ventures announced its first deal in Brazil, having funded the Series A round of Minuto Seguros, an online insurance broker. The amount of the round was undisclosed, but it was believed to be less than $5 million. Redpoint e.ventures was launched in July with a $130 million fund to invest in early stage tech companies in Brazil. The firm, which focuses on consumer Internet, mobile, media and cloud services, already is managing five investments: Viajanet, Grupo Xango, 55Social, Shoes4you and Sophie & Juliete.
PRESS RELEASE
Minuto Seguros Announces Series A Investment from Redpoint e.ventures
Leading online insurance broker in Brazil first to receive Silicon Valley institutional funding to redefine market
São Paulo, Brazil, September 20, 2012 – Minuto Seguros, the leading online insurance broker in Brazil, announced today that it has received a Series A investment led by Redpoint e.ventures, Brazil’s largest early-stage VC fund and the first Silicon Valley-affiliated fund dedicated to the region. The funds will be used to accelerate growth by expanding product development and marketing efforts and scale the company’s technology infrastructure to meet growing customer demand around the country.
Founded in 2011 by Marcelo Blay, an insurance industry expert with a strong track record and nearly two decades of experience, Minuto Seguros is one of the pioneers to introduce innovative web services to help Brazil’s 85 million Internet users easily research and buy insurance products online. The company offers a broad selection of insurance products for both individuals and businesses, and users can search for personalized quotes free of charge. At the core of the company’s strategy is superior online customer experience and high quality support through its in-house call center. Minuto Seguros currently offers insurance products from the top local and international players and sells its product in 500 cities all across Brazil.
Historically, insurance products such as car, health and home insurance, have been underdeveloped and not easily accessible in Brazil compared to other parts of the world, leaving a large portion of the country uninsured. The Brazilian insurance brokerage market is primarily offline today and could be improved substantially with more pricing transparency and scale. This represents a big opportunity for everyone: the consumers, the brokers and the insurance companies. With the country’s recent economic growth and new lines of credit, 40M Brazilians have migrated into a fast growing middle class and for the first time are purchasing their own cars, homes and consumer goods, driving up the need for new insurance products.
“In Brazil, there’s a clear gap between the growing population in need of insurance and how slow and fragmented the traditional insurance market has been in meeting those needs. We believe we are at the forefront of a great market opportunity” said Marcelo Blay, CEO of Minuto Seguros. “Partnering with Redpoint e.ventures gives Minuto Seguros a strategic advantage to consolidate our lead: not only are we the first to receive significant funding from an institutional investor but we are the only local player in this space so far to benefit from Silicon Valley’s rich consumer internet experience.”
“The experience, credibility and connections of Minuto Seguros are unmatched in the industry. After much time spent looking into this market, we are convinced that they have the vision and capabilities to build an amazing company and redefine this space” said Yann de Vries, Managing Director and co-Founder of Redpoint e.ventures. “This is our biggest investment to date and we are proud to be working with this outstanding team on this exciting journey”
About Minuto Seguros
Founded in 2011, Minuto Seguros is a leading online insurance broker for individuals and businesses across a broad variety of insurance products. Users can search online for personalized quotes free of charge and leverage premier customer service support with representatives available online and over the phone. Minuto Seguros is backed by Redpoint e.ventures. For more information, please visit: http://www.minutoseguros.com.br/.
About Redpoint e.ventures
Formed as a joint venture between Redpoint and e.ventures, Redpoint e.ventures is a new Venture Capital firm based in São Paulo, serving entrepreneurs in the fast- growing Brazilian market. Redpoint e.ventures brings capital, Silicon Valley access, and global best practices to promising start-up companies. The firm was established with a dedicated local team and will leverage its Silicon Valley and global networks to help develop the rapidly growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Brazil. For more information visit: www.rpev.com.br
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try and sign in again. If the problem persists, please
email: subscriptions@peimedia.com.