On Friday, Brazilian venture capital fund Indicator Capital, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), and Qualcomm Ventures LLC announced the launch of the early-stage venture capital fund Indicator 2 IoT FIP, with an initial close of $45 million (R$ 240 million). The fund is poised to become the first investment vehicle dedicated solely to Internet of Things (IoT) and connectivity in Latin America. In addition to the creators of the public bid, BNDES and Qualcomm Ventures, the fund has other five prominent investors: Banco do Brasil, Multilaser, Motorola, Lenovo, and Telefônica Ventures / Vivo, along with other institutional and corporate investors.
Aimed at startups that develop services and products related to IoT and Connectivity, the fund will promote Brazil’s National IoT Plan, accelerating strategic sectors, such as Agriculture, Health, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, and Mobility. According to Indicator Capital, the fund’s capital raise also makes it the largest Brazilian venture capital manager in Latin America, specializing in IoT.
“From Silicon Valley, we monitor the main technological trends, maintaining relationships with world leaders in the sector. We apply our proprietary Building Value Together methodology, contributing significantly to the development of startups. These investments will breed great national technology players in the next 5 to 10 years”, added Indicator co-founding partner Fabio Innis de Paula, one of the most experienced venture capital investors in Latin America and former Business Director of Intel LatAm, who led over 300 proofs of concept in digital transformation.
According to Indicator, the initial target fundraise was $22 million (R$ 120 million), but the fund successfully closed at twice that amount amid robust investor demand.
The fund is the result of a joint initiative by BNDES and Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated, a world leader in next-generation wireless technologies that, in December 2019, launched a public call for tenders to select a manager to structure the newly created investment fund. Together, BNDES and Qualcomm Ventures have committed $16 million (R$ 85 million) to the fund.
Over the next 10 years, the fund will invest in up to 30 early-stage startups (Series A), with an average ticket size of $1.9 million (R$ 10 million).
“We intend to make seven investments by the end of 2021, playing a leadership role in IoT in Latin America. We are working with great dedication to placing Brazil definitively on the global map of Internet of Things,” added Indicator managing partner Derek Bittar.
This is the second Brazil-based investment for Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate VC arm of wireless technologies Qualcomm, in recent months. In March, the company participated in a $90 million Series D round for Brazilian e-commerce player Nuvemshop, after leading a $30 million Series C round for the company in October.
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