Brazil Merama Raises $225 million

Merama, Latin America’s brands investor, yanks another $225 million from SoftBank Group International and Advent International

Merama, Latin America’s brands investor, yanks another $225 million this time from SoftBank Group International and Advent International co-lead by Globo Ventures in a Series B financing just passed the first year of operation and five months after raising $160 million Series A from Monashees, Valor Capital Group, Balderton Capital and Maya Capital, the latter the investment fund of Lara L. (Lemann) and Monica Saggioro Leal.

The company was founded in December 2020 by Brazilians Renato Andrade and Guilherme Nosralla together with French Olivier Scialom and Mexican Felipe Delgado and American Sujay Tyle with the vision to be the largest and best-selling set of brands in Latin America. The target: To become the Unilever of the region.

“This new financing from some of the world’s premier investors is a strong affirmation of Merama’s business model, momentum and the size of the market opportunity,” said Sujay Tyle, co-founder and CEO of Merama. “We are pleased to welcome Advent, SoftBank and Globo Ventures as new partners alongside our existing investors and believe their deep experience building businesses in both Latin America and e-commerce will benefit Merama significantly.” Advent is a core investor in Thrasio, the largest acquirer of Amazon FBA brands globally, while SoftBank is a core investor in several of Latin America’s biggest online platforms and retailers like Rappi, Petlove, and Olist.

Founded in December 2020, Merama is the leading consolidator of direct-to-consumer businesses in Latin America. The company invests in and helps operate and scale category-leading online merchants selling on marketplaces such as Mercado Libre, Amazon and Shopee. To date, Merama has acquired ownership stakes in more than 20 businesses offering consumer products across a diverse range of categories.

The company was co-founded by CEO Sujay Tyle, co-founder and former CEO of Frontier Car Group (sold to Naspers for approximately $700 million); Felipe Delgado, previously CEO of Beetmann Energy; Olivier Scialom, co-founder and former COO of Petsy (sold to Maskota); Renato Andrade, previously Associate Partner at McKinsey; and Guilherme Nosralla, former Head of Growth at Wildlife Studios. Merama has more than 100 employees in Mexico City and São Paulo, bringing together relevant experience from leading technology and e-commerce companies such as Uber, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Falabella, and Mercado Libre.

The Esquires

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and White & Case advised Merama on the deal.

The Orrick team advising Merama was led by Samir Bakhru and included Montana Ware, Elizabeth Damaskos, Chris Bulkley, Anik Guha, Mike Yang and Kathryn Montalvo.

Simpson Thacher, Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, and Lobo de Rizzo advised Advent International.

Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes advised SoftBank Latin America Fund.

Lobo de Rizzo Advogados advised Advent International with Rodrigo Millar de Castro Guerra (Picture), Guilherme Henke Menegassi, George de Magalhães Carvalho, Juliana Campos Santana and Letícia Spada.

Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes advised SoftBank Latin America Fund with Ricardo Maldonado Yáñez, Carlos Ernesto Orcí Berea, Adriana Morales, Carlos Emiliano Ahumada Gurza, Rodrigo del Valle, Santiago Graff,  Claudia Gutiérrez, Manuel Borja and Raquel Najmias Hemsani.