Brazilian recession is helping Autotech start-ups.
In the short term, the logistics and transportation segment can be considered the most prominent.
The crisis scenario has helped foster the emergence of Brazilian startups in the automotive technology sector in the last two years, leading to the creation of companies focused on meeting the needs of the local market and improving efficiency, according to a study released on Friday.
The research conducted by startups accelerator Liga Ventures analyzed 191 Brazilian startups of the segment, subdividing them into four main categories: logistics and transportation, solutions for mobility, automotive technology and applied technology. Foreign companies operating in the country, such as Uber, were not accounted for.
The mobility area, in which startups act as the urban transport application 99, was considered one of the most promising trends and also the one with the largest number of companies, said Raphael Augusto, startup hunter of the Liga Ventures.
“We see today that the share of mobility has been growing a lot in the last two years, like trend and volume of startups,” he told Reuters.
Already in the short term, the logistics and transportation segment can be considered the most prominent, with some startups such as Mandae deliveries coming into evidence and forming a good capital base, said Liga Ventures co-founder Daniel Grossi.
But unlike more consolidated markets, such as the United States, where there is a heated dispute and major investments in technological innovation — such as the development of autonomous vehicles and drones — the Brazilian automotive technology sector focuses on correcting inefficiencies and solving problems, Grossi told Reuters.
“Here in Brazil we see a greater vocation for innovation in business models, solutions that will make companies more efficient and help consumers,” Grossi said.
According to the executives, this profile is also due to the very scenario of crisis that is unfolding in the country.
“When we talk about startups, one of the main factors for creation is precisely reversing the curve of a crisis. Many of the startups were born in times of crisis, they are born with the function of maintaining a structure that already exists,” said Raphael Augusto.
For him, this also translates into the search for different sources of resources.
“As the investment market is still quite immature in Brazil, today they are supported by the possibility of generating business with large companies or clients,” he said.
For both, as the Brazilian market is incipient, it is difficult to predict exactly the future behavior of automotive technology startups in the country. However, based on the last two years, it is possible to see a trend of growth and maturation of the companies in the sector.
“When you look at the start-ups market in Brazil, it’s incipient, it started in 2012. And in the (automotive) sector, start-ups are under the age of 2. We see it is growing and maturing now and there are more and more startups popping up,” commented Raphael Augusto.
“We see that several of them are already in a very mature, consolidated state,” added Daniel Grossi.
Source: Globo/ÉPOCA
Billy D. Aldea-Martinez, heads up Latin America and Brazil for Piano, the world’s leader SaaS Platform that allows media companies to launch Direct Monetization models, such as metering and paywall solutions for digital content and user data analysis.
Billy is also a Digital Monetization Strategy consultant and exclusively works with Latin America’s largest media groups, such as Editora Abril (Brazil), Grupo Globo (Brazil) as well as Grupo Copesa (Chile).
He also serves as Board Advisor & Angel Investor for adtech & martech startups such as Start-up Chile, Start-up Peru, Parallel18 (PR) Admetricks and Starter Daily.
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