Member Investor: Crescera Capital Company: Grupo Zelo Industry-Sector: Consumer Services
READ the latest deal case featuring Valor Capital Group‘s investment in e-commerce solutions provider Dolado.
OPPORTUNITY
Valor Capital first met Guilherme Freire in 2012, when he founded, scaled and successfully exited direct-to-consumer eyewear company LIVO. Seeing Guilherme’s track record and entrepreneurial spirit, Valor Capital kept in touch and followed his journey through his other entrepreneurial endeavors, including co-founding ride-sharing company Grow Mobility (formerly Ride).
EXECUTION
In October 2020, Valor Capital led a USD2.2m seed round for Dolado, with participation from Global Founders Capital, Provence Capital, Norte Capital, as well as executives from iFood, Stone, Olist, Viva Real and PayPal. The company was founded during lockdowns, so its initial focus was to help merchants from tier-2 cities and favelas in São Paulo to set up online stores, which allowed them to keep serving their clients and produce minimum cash flows to cover basic expenses. During its first six months of operations, Dolado served SMEs from 128 cities in Brazil, delivering over 138,000 leads for its affiliated retailers. Merchants listed over 68,000 products on Dolado, reaching over 420,000 online visits despite a practically null marketing expenditure. ESG IN FOCUS Dolado has structured a product offering focused on positively impacting and empowering entrepreneurs from underserved regions and vulnerable backgrounds. While such a strategy has mainly focused on technological solutions to increase efficiency and revenues of merchants, Dolado also empowers individuals through its employment practices. The company is currently one of the main supporters of Instituto Responsa, a Brazilian initiative focused on non-discrimination of people impacted by the justice system. Approximately 15% of Dolado’s operational workforce was previously incarcerated. Beyond employment, Dolado also seeks to provide its employees with professional development opportunities through partnerships with technical training institutions such as the {Parças} Developers School… download the full case study to read more