Nearly one year ago to the day, Atomico and W7 Brazil Capital made a US$10 million investment in Bebê Store. And now, the Brazilian e-commerce platform for all things baby has picked up another big chunk of funding, as both entities are now injecting an additional US$12.3 million into the company.
Since its 2009 launch, Bebê Store has established itself as a leading online retailer for products for babies and children in Brazil. Its does some have some hefty competition, including and perhaps especially Baby.com.br, but also has its advantages as a first mover. Over the past year, the company experienced a 137% increase in revenues, and it expects to experience similar growth in 2014.
Bebê Store offers over 55,000 items through five separate stores (Bebê Store, Kids Store, Toy Store, Mommy Store, Clube da Fralda). With this latest investment, the company hopes to continue to gain momentum and expand its market share in Brazil’s growing e-commerce market.
Leonardo Simão, co-founder and CEO at Bebê Store, reflected on the startup’s trajectory so far and what’s next:
Last year we launched a new warehouse in Tamboré, São Paulo’s inner city, with a storage area of about 8000 m2, which allowed to more than triple our order processing from 30 thousand to 100 thousand orders per month. Besides, we have launched our fifth store, “Clube da Fralda” (Diaper Club), and expanded both our team and structure in order to until the end of 2014 reach financial equilibrium. This new investment from Atomico is essential to give us the energy to our accelerated growth.
“With this new investment in Bebê Store, Atomico reinforces its belief in the Brazilian market. Brazil has a tremendous potential for innovative business, especially in e-commerce, which will continue to expand rapidly in coming years,” added Haroldo Korte, Managing Director of Investments for Atomico in Latin America.
We interviewed Korte late last year, discussing his take on the Latin American market, Atomico’s interest in it, and, specifically, Brazil. “Brazil’s internet economy is now at a level where it can sustain many more firms – plenty of successful companies here now rely on e-commerce and the web for their entire business,” he reflected at the time. For example, Bebê Store.
