SoftBank and Riverwood recently invested $93 million in Brazilian HR startup Guppy. This investment marks the first time SoftBank has invested in a Brazilian startup and is seen as a major milestone in the Brazilian startup scene.
Let’s look at what SoftBank and Riverwood saw in Guppy to make them invest.
SoftBank, Riverwood lead $93 mln investment in Brazilian HR startup Gupy
SoftBank Group Corp. is a global technology company focused on creating value through the convergence of existing technologies with emerging trends in the IT industry, particularly AI and platforms. Founded in 1981 by CEO Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has become a leader in the technology sector with its domestic Japan operations, alongside its vast international network that reaches 1.86B global customers. With an extensive portfolio of current investments and projects, SoftBank remains committed to innovating the world of finance while unlocking opportunities for those eager to create value through technology.
Riverwood Capital is a private equity firm focused on growth-stage investments primarily in software, internet and business services companies throughout the United States and Latin America. The firm was founded in 2006 by Michael Numhauser and Jerry Yang and has operations in North Carolina and locations across Latin America – Mexico City, Santiago de Chile and São Paulo. Riverwood will invest between $15 million usd to $50 million usd per deal across a range of sectors, with particular emphasis on tech startups that have their presence in North America (U.S., Canada) and Latin America (Mexico, Brazil).
Recently SoftBank Group Corp. joined Riverwood Capital to lead a USD 93M investment round into Brazilian based software start-up Guppy – title: “Softbank And Riverwood Lead A US$93 Million Round For HR Start-up Guppy” – announcement published December 2nd 2020 via BusinessWire. Guppy was launched only two years prior and has become one of Brazil’s leading HR companies, offering specialised job marketplaces for blue-collar positions and enterprise resource planning (ERP) partnerships within Human Resources departments at major corporations around Sao Paulo. This investment round into Guppy is expected to provide further leverage towards cementing Guppy’s foothold within South American markets while allowing it’s global partnership base to continue their expansion around Asia Pacific regions like Singapore & Japan; which further proves that there continues be global interests towards developing localised online “job marketplaces” despite pandemic uncertainty affecting most industries this year; where remote work related activities remain highly sought after by employers looking for new talent sources online “on demand”.
Overview of Guppy
Guppy is an innovative HR technology startup based in Brazil. It was founded in 2018 and seeks to revolutionise the hiring process for businesses across Latin America by leveraging sophisticated digital tools. The company’s mission is to make the recruitment process easier, faster, and more efficient for employers and employees through an intuitive user experience. Guppy’s platform is currently used by some leading companies in their respective industries, helping them accelerate their hiring processes while improving overall employer brand value.
Recently, SoftBank and Riverwood Capital have seen the potential of Guppy’s platform and joined a consortium of investors that visited its offices in São Paulo. In total, they led a $90 million investment round, including previously invested funds from Kaszek Ventures among other venture capital firms. This new injection of funds will reportedly accelerate Guppy’s product development and expansion into new geographic markets such as Mexico or Colombia where the HR recruitment industry is underdeveloped but offers great opportunities.
Investment Rationale
SoftBank and Riverwood are two of the world’s leading venture capital firms, and their recent investment in Brazilian HR startup Guppy demonstrates the potential of the HR tech space.
In this article, we’ll delve into why SoftBank and Riverwood chose to invest $93 million in Guppy and their investment rationale.
Guppy’s Growth Potential
Guppy, a Brazilian human resources startup founded in 2018, recently announced that SoftBank Group Corp. and venture capital fund Riverwood Capital had acquired a stake in the company for $93 million. Such investment highlights the vast potential of Guppy to become a major player in the global HR market, as well as how market leaders are responding to the changing landscape of work in South America and other emerging markets.
Guppy’s core product is a software platform that simplifies the recruitment process while instantly providing access to candidates from all over Latin America. The platform also helps employers better manage their personnel and provide more learning opportunities to their staff with an integrated marketplace featuring competency-based tools and e-learning courses. Guppy’s suite of products also aims to help employers better identify, assess and monitor candidate skills, enabling them to make more informed recruiting decisions based on data Science insights into talent availability.
Given Guppy’s impressive traction with large clients such as Walmart Brazil and Ambev Brazil, along with its ability to adopt innovative strategies in attracting customers through its cutting edge technology platform, both Softbank Group Corp and Riverwood Capital venture capital fund recognize the massive potential of investing in Guppy’s growth trajectory at this time. This could open up new execution opportunities for South American HR startups that can leverage technology for achieving rapid growth.
Guppy’s Unique Technology
Guppy is a Brazilian Human Resources (HR) startup founded in 2014, which recently secured a $93 million investment from SoftBank, Riverwood Capital and others.
Guppy is disrupting the traditional HR process by utilising AI-powered technology for talent acquisition. As a result, the company has quickly earned recognition for its platform, enabling organisations to get the best talent effectively and efficiently tailored to their requirements.
At the core of Guppy’s technology is the assurance that candidates are correctly identified and recruited for their respective positions. By leveraging an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered “talent matchmaker”, Guppy digs through huge pools of potential candidates to identify those with top-level expertise and qualifications in their chosen fields. Furthermore, Guppy also includes natural language processing capabilities which allow companies to ask more targeted questions and better understand candidate profiles more efficiently than ever before — helping recruiters find the best matches in seconds using AI technology.
Additionally, this investment will enable Guppy to focus on scaling its operations while launching several new products related to HR tech solutions including speed recruitment solutions so firms can hire quickly, customised information feeds and real-time talent assessment solutions — providing comprehensive insights into candidates before they are hired. With SoftBank’s expertise in scaling and investing into innovative technologies, this very strategic move is likely to unlock future opportunities for companies recruiting globally or within Brazil and provide a much smoother experience for job seekers interested in pursuing a career with forward looking companies around the world.
Guppy’s Experienced Leadership
Guppy, a Brazilian HR startup recently announced to have secured $93 million in funding from SoftBank and Riverwood Capital shows the potential of the Brazilian technology market to foreign investors.
One of the top reasons that SoftBank and Riverwood made this investment is Guppy’s experienced leadership team. The team comprises Marcelo Valério, co-founder and CEO of Guppy, Luis Martins, head of products, Alexander Ribeiro general manager, Júlia Ferreira CFO & CRO, Paulo Bezerra VP engineering, Miguel Telo VP strategy & operations and Vivien Aquino sales director. The team has over two decades of experience in HR technology development and growth. This level of knowledge gives investors confidence that the company’s direction will produce positive results.
On top of their knowledge and experience in HR technology development and growth to date, each member holds qualifications in various fields such as computer sciences (Marcelo Valério), product management (Luis Martins), software engineering leaders (Alexander Ribeiro) financial management (Júlia Ferreira) software portfolio management (Paulo Betzerra), engineering consulting services delivery (Miguel Telo), customer success management (Vivien Aquino).
The knowledge held by these six individuals helps make Guppy’s HR platform one of Brazil’s most trusted recruitment solutions with customers ranging from startups to large companies such as Coca Cola Femsa S/A , Burger King Restaurants USA LLC and Uber. Additionally it allows them to predict potential areas for innovation within Guppy’s HR platform which will help ensure continued success for the company for years to come.
Impact of Investment
The $93 million investment by SoftBank and Riverwood into the Brazilian HR startup Guppy, is being seen as a major boon for the company. This large investment is expected to greatly impact the company’s future, unlocking their ability to become a global player in the HR industry.
Let’s take a deeper look into what the impact of this investment could be.
Impact on Guppy
SoftBank’s Latin America Fund and Riverwood Capital investment provided Guppy with $93 million in a Series C round. This impressive capital injection benefits Guppy’s operations significantly, beginning with the ability to hire top talent to expand their reach across the Brazilian market and beyond. SoftBank will also help Guppy identify and refine opportunities which could contribute to long-term growth.
Guppy seeks to be one of Latin America’s premier HR solutions providers. This wave of investment goes hand-in-hand with corporate strategies such as increased efficiency, accelerated innovation cycles, improved customer satisfaction, and other business goals. The injection of this capital gives Guy the capacity for further digital transformation, including moving their entire platform onto cloud computing infrastructure. In addition, utilising advanced AI technologies could lead to greater integration with other digital tools to provide better client services and create better hiring experiences for job seekers.
Additionally, greater customer reach and advanced data analytics capabilities should allow Guppy greater insights into customer needs while developing new revenue opportunities. Similarly, potential advantages like streamlined communication processes through podcasts or networks could open up new facets of customer engagement that were impossible before this investment. This strategic shift can transform Guy into a more important player in the region’s HR technology sector; allowing them an edge over competitors by leveraging cutting edge cloud technology that emphasises personalised customer experiences at every touchpoint throughout their user journey.
Impact on SoftBank and Riverwood
SoftBank Group Corp and Riverwood Capital have led an investment round of US$93 million in Guppy, a Brazilian HR technology startup. Notably, the investment marks SoftBank’s first venture into Latin America. It comes after more than two years of analysis by SoftBank targeting the emerging markets of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.
The size of the investment has opened many eyes in the region for its potential impact on regional dialogue around technology investment. As one of the largest funding rounds the region has seen in recent years, this deal with Guppy has huge stakes for both investors involved and could result in wider impact across both economies.
For Softbank, the significance lies in its foray into Latin American markets with the potential to reach out to other startups seeking guidance or capital through its knowledge network built on over 30 years of experience as a tech investor. The implications are largest for Riverwood Capital, who will be leveraging their knowledge network within Brazil’s technology market to guide Guppy’s growth–by working directly alongside S-Group Ventures (an arm of Softbank). This dual affiliation and presence is expected to act as crucial leverage for success within Guppy’s innovative product solutions encompassing employee hiring capabilities.
It is hoped that this significant investment from Softbank and Riverwood will create a positive ripple effect across Latin American regions in terms of development towards improved technological performances supported by a strong local venture ecosystem.
SoftBank and Riverwoods investment in Guppy highlights their unwavering belief in human resources’ importance in helping businesses succeed. Guppy’s platform allows companies to hire, manage, and retain employees much faster than traditional hiring methods. This is critical for staying competitive in today’s young and constantly-evolving marketplace for talent.
Furthermore, Guppy’s platform has been designed to make it easier for companies to find qualified candidates from any region or industry sector, further strengthening its appeal to investors. Finally, investing in a Brazilian startup such as Guppy, SoftBank and Riverwood demonstrates an understanding of the potential of the growing HR technology market in Latin America.
Ultimately, this is an important milestone that speaks volumes about the future potential of Guppy and human resource management.
