The Fintech has just signed an agreement to acquire the project team of Box TI, a technology company from Santa Catarina, in a model internationally known as 'acqui-hiring', a corporate acquisition model that focuses on taking advantage of the company's professionals.
(This type of M&A transaction is still little practiced in Brazil, but it has been gaining strength because of the high demand for technology professionals. In 2020, for example, Nubank bought Plataformatec via ‘acqui-hiring’.)
Now back to Warren's story… The manager, administrator and brokerage from Rio Grande do Sul closed an agreement with Box TI to absorb the company's project team, adding 30 more developers to her team. The value of the transaction was not disclosed by the companies.
The expectation is to have a team with 200 to 250 employees in Santa Catarina. At the same time, the deal makes it feasible to expand the project to deliver high-performance products and services to other locations, such as in the Southeast region — outside São Paulo capital — and in the Northeast.
For Warren's founding partner and CTO, André Gusmão, Brazil has many relevant technology hubs, but without much visibility. He mentions that there are already movements in Joinville and Blumenau. So much so that the platform opened its first headquarters in Blumenau.
In addition, the agreement aims to assist the company in training technology professionals, in order to circumvent the market's difficulty in finding qualified labor. Warren even prepares a social education project focused on training developers.
“As good as our product is, we understand that, in the end, it's the people who make it. We strongly believe in their training, which is directly linked to the challenge of having a small workforce in the area”, says André Eberhardt, director of engineering at Warren.
Other acquisitions
The acquisition of Box TI is the third made by Warren, since it announced, in April 2021, the Series C round of BRL 300 million, led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.
In September, the fintech bought Renascença DTVM — a dealer for the Central Bank (BC) and the National Treasury. A little over a month later, the manager announced a merger with the multi-family office Vitra, an operation that allowed Warren to reach the current BRL 20 billion under management.
The plan of the institution founded by Tito Gusmão is to be the “largest brokerage firm in the country in the long term”, as the entrepreneur himself told Finsiders in May of last year, weeks after the release of the C Series. mandatory condition for the project not to remain only on paper.
While strengthening the technology team, Warren has also expanded its product offering to clients in recent years, including foreign exchange, life insurance, education, financial planning and off-shore. As a result, it started to offer what the company calls “a complete wealth management ecosystem” for its clients.
Competition
With the 3.0 model, based on the 'fee based' model — in which a percentage is charged based on a percentage of the volume invested by customers — Warren (and other fintechs, such as Magnetis) want to differentiate themselves from 1.0 (banking model) and 2.0 (investment supermarkets). Last year, the fintech even launched an advertising campaign to make more noise. “We need to capture people's attention in 30 seconds,” Tito told Finsiders at the time.
The task is not trivial, given the increased competition in the investment market. XP, with BRL 815 billion in custody, started the year ‘on fire’, buying 100% of Modal and a stake in Suno. And it has already signaled that it will accelerate purchases in 2022.
The main competitor, BTG Pactual, has also been strengthening. Last year, it is worth remembering, it bought Fator Corretora, Necton and Universa (owner of Empiricus, Vitreo, Real Valor, among other brands).
Valued at US$ 43 billion, Nubank is another player that is gearing up for the dispute, with its Nu Invest (formerly Easynvest). The list of competitors not linked to large banks also includes Genial, Toro, Órama, Guide, Magnetis and others.
The Fintech has just signed an agreement to acquire the project team of Box TI, a technology company from Santa Catarina, in a model internationally known as 'acqui-hiring', a corporate acquisition model that focuses on taking advantage of the company's professionals.
(This type of M&A transaction is still little practiced in Brazil, but it has been gaining strength because of the high demand for technology professionals. In 2020, for example, Nubank bought Plataformatec via ‘acqui-hiring’.)
Now back to Warren's story… The manager, administrator and brokerage from Rio Grande do Sul closed an agreement with Box TI to absorb the company's project team, adding 30 more developers to her team. The value of the transaction was not disclosed by the companies.
The expectation is to have a team with 200 to 250 employees in Santa Catarina. At the same time, the deal makes it feasible to expand the project to deliver high-performance products and services to other locations, such as in the Southeast region — outside São Paulo capital — and in the Northeast.
For Warren's founding partner and CTO, André Gusmão, Brazil has many relevant technology hubs, but without much visibility. He mentions that there are already movements in Joinville and Blumenau. So much so that the platform opened its first headquarters in Blumenau.
In addition, the agreement aims to assist the company in training technology professionals, in order to circumvent the market's difficulty in finding qualified labor. Warren even prepares a social education project focused on training developers.
“As good as our product is, we understand that, in the end, it's the people who make it. We strongly believe in their training, which is directly linked to the challenge of having a small workforce in the area”, says André Eberhardt, director of engineering at Warren.
Other acquisitions
The acquisition of Box TI is the third made by Warren, since it announced, in April 2021, the Series C round of BRL 300 million, led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.
In September, the fintech bought Renascença DTVM — a dealer for the Central Bank (BC) and the National Treasury. A little over a month later, the manager announced a merger with the multi-family office Vitra, an operation that allowed Warren to reach the current BRL 20 billion under management.
The plan of the institution founded by Tito Gusmão is to be the “largest brokerage firm in the country in the long term”, as the entrepreneur himself told Finsiders in May of last year, weeks after the release of the C Series. mandatory condition for the project not to remain only on paper.
While strengthening the technology team, Warren has also expanded its product offering to clients in recent years, including foreign exchange, life insurance, education, financial planning and off-shore. As a result, it started to offer what the company calls “a complete wealth management ecosystem” for its clients.
Competition
With the 3.0 model, based on the 'fee based' model — in which a percentage is charged based on a percentage of the volume invested by customers — Warren (and other fintechs, such as Magnetis) want to differentiate themselves from 1.0 (banking model) and 2.0 (investment supermarkets). Last year, the fintech even launched an advertising campaign to make more noise. “We need to capture people's attention in 30 seconds,” Tito told Finsiders at the time.
The task is not trivial, given the increased competition in the investment market. XP, with BRL 815 billion in custody, started the year ‘on fire’, buying 100% of Modal and a stake in Suno. And it has already signaled that it will accelerate purchases in 2022.
The main competitor, BTG Pactual, has also been strengthening. Last year, it is worth remembering, it bought Fator Corretora, Necton and Universa (owner of Empiricus, Vitreo, Real Valor, among other brands).
Valued at US$ 43 billion, Nubank is another player that is gearing up for the dispute, with its Nu Invest (formerly Easynvest). The list of competitors not linked to large banks also includes Genial, Toro, Órama, Guide, Magnetis and others.