Now, the fintech is preparing to expand its team, add new business verticals, and expand to other countries in Latin America. To do so, it has just raised R$19 million in a seed round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), a US fund specialized in early-stage fintechs that has already provided capital to Brazilian companies such as Divibank and Clubbi.
The first funding of Portão 3 had the participation of players such as Endeavor Scale-Up, Fincapital, Pareto, Flexport and angel investors, whose names were not disclosed. In 2021, the startup also participated in the Y Combinator program and received US$ 125,000 from the North American accelerator.
Amid the chaotic scenario for startups, the entrepreneurs say that they were able to close the investment quickly, even due to the numbers that the business has been presenting since it was founded. "We have grown a lot in the last year. We are going against the market," says cofounder Bianca Pereira, who, before Portão 3, founded two startups, one in the tourism sector and another focused on micro entrepreneurs.
When she talks about being against the market, the entrepreneur refers also to the hiring plan, which will gain momentum with the check received. While most fintechs lay off people en masse, Portão 3 wants to more than triple its team - currently with a lean team of 30 people, the idea is to reach around 100 by the end of the year. The focus is to hire mainly for the product, technology and sales areas.
With more than 600 clients, Portão 3 serves companies in consumer goods, technology, financial services, health, and industry in general. In its portfolio are names like SulAmérica, CredPago, Junco, Bitso, and 123 Milhas, among others. Last year, the fintech traded R$ 300 million and issued 1 million physical and virtual cards. The company does not disclose its revenue, but says it has been growing 20% month by month and expects to continue at this pace.
With the investment, one of the plans drawn by Portão 3 is to stamp its passport to other countries in Latin America. "We already have clients abroad, such as Bitso [Mexican cryptocurrency brokerage]," informs Bianca. Despite the international project, the fintech also recognizes that there is a large market to be explored in Brazilian lands. "We also have a focus on going to some regions and states in the country," reinforces cofounder Fernando Nery, who, like Bianca, is not a first-time entrepreneur - he cofounded the healthtech Vitta, sold in 2020 to Stone.
The funds raised will also help Portão 3 evolve its operations to other segments, such as fleet management, exemplifies the entrepreneur. Today, companies can control and manage all kinds of corporate expenses, for example, fuel, tolls, food, and software monthly fees. The fintech says it reduces by up to 33% the time spent on payment management processes.
The transactions are carried out through a pre-paid card (physical and virtual), Mastercard, with credit function, which offers the functionalities of multiple users, multiple cards, dynamic budgets and dashboards for monitoring transactions in real time. The payment infrastructure is provided by our partner Swap, a fintech company that operates with banking as a service (BaaS).
In addition to Gate 3, other startups have made inroads into the corporate expense market. In July last year, HRTech Flash, for example, bought ExpenseOn, later rebranded as Flash Expense. Also in 2022 the mobility app Wappa and the fintech Expense Mobi joined forces to create Stuo, a platform that already serves more than 5,000 companies and adds up to 1 million users.
The players that work with corporate expense management solutions also include names like VExpenses, Jeeves, Conta Simples, Onfly, Payfy, and others. Cash.in is also preparing to enter the segment, as revealed to Finsiders by cofounder Nani Gordon, in September 2022.
Now, the fintech is preparing to expand its team, add new business verticals, and expand to other countries in Latin America. To do so, it has just raised R$19 million in a seed round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), a US fund specialized in early-stage fintechs that has already provided capital to Brazilian companies such as Divibank and Clubbi.
The first funding of Portão 3 had the participation of players such as Endeavor Scale-Up, Fincapital, Pareto, Flexport and angel investors, whose names were not disclosed. In 2021, the startup also participated in the Y Combinator program and received US$ 125,000 from the North American accelerator.
Amid the chaotic scenario for startups, the entrepreneurs say that they were able to close the investment quickly, even due to the numbers that the business has been presenting since it was founded. "We have grown a lot in the last year. We are going against the market," says cofounder Bianca Pereira, who, before Portão 3, founded two startups, one in the tourism sector and another focused on micro entrepreneurs.
When she talks about being against the market, the entrepreneur refers also to the hiring plan, which will gain momentum with the check received. While most fintechs lay off people en masse, Portão 3 wants to more than triple its team - currently with a lean team of 30 people, the idea is to reach around 100 by the end of the year. The focus is to hire mainly for the product, technology and sales areas.
With more than 600 clients, Portão 3 serves companies in consumer goods, technology, financial services, health, and industry in general. In its portfolio are names like SulAmérica, CredPago, Junco, Bitso, and 123 Milhas, among others. Last year, the fintech traded R$ 300 million and issued 1 million physical and virtual cards. The company does not disclose its revenue, but says it has been growing 20% month by month and expects to continue at this pace.
With the investment, one of the plans drawn by Portão 3 is to stamp its passport to other countries in Latin America. "We already have clients abroad, such as Bitso [Mexican cryptocurrency brokerage]," informs Bianca. Despite the international project, the fintech also recognizes that there is a large market to be explored in Brazilian lands. "We also have a focus on going to some regions and states in the country," reinforces cofounder Fernando Nery, who, like Bianca, is not a first-time entrepreneur - he cofounded the healthtech Vitta, sold in 2020 to Stone.
The funds raised will also help Portão 3 evolve its operations to other segments, such as fleet management, exemplifies the entrepreneur. Today, companies can control and manage all kinds of corporate expenses, for example, fuel, tolls, food, and software monthly fees. The fintech says it reduces by up to 33% the time spent on payment management processes.
The transactions are carried out through a pre-paid card (physical and virtual), Mastercard, with credit function, which offers the functionalities of multiple users, multiple cards, dynamic budgets and dashboards for monitoring transactions in real time. The payment infrastructure is provided by our partner Swap, a fintech company that operates with banking as a service (BaaS).
In addition to Gate 3, other startups have made inroads into the corporate expense market. In July last year, HRTech Flash, for example, bought ExpenseOn, later rebranded as Flash Expense. Also in 2022 the mobility app Wappa and the fintech Expense Mobi joined forces to create Stuo, a platform that already serves more than 5,000 companies and adds up to 1 million users.
The players that work with corporate expense management solutions also include names like VExpenses, Jeeves, Conta Simples, Onfly, Payfy, and others. Cash.in is also preparing to enter the segment, as revealed to Finsiders by cofounder Nani Gordon, in September 2022.