Brazilian Stark Bank Landed Series-B Led by Ribbit Capital and joined by Sea Capital,Jeff Bezos’s Investment Fund, Bezos Expedition, and by Original Investors 

This is the second Latin America investment by Bezos Expedition

Stark Bank, the Brazilian digital bank founded in 2018 by Rafael Stark, landed its Series-B equity finance led by Ribbit Capital in a $45 million round of investment joined by Sea Capital.

The round had the participation of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‘ investment fund – the Bezos Expedition – and original investors Iporanga Ventures, K5 Global fund and founders of Airbnb, Kavak, Visa, Coinbase, some STD executives, and investor Lachy Groom.

The digital bank was born with the proposition to serve small and medium-sized companies but lately began to target large businesses. Today it serves more than 300 companies, including Quinto Andar, Loft, Buser, Isaac, Bitso, Daki, and Colgate.

Stark tried to pitch his startup to Bezos’ fund through the founders of NotCo – the first Latin American startup invested by the owner of Amazon – and to Maya Capital, a venture capital fund that has Lara Lemann as a founding partner.

Before Bezos, Ribbit Capital and Sea Capital, Stark Bank had already attracted important people. Just four months ago, the digital bank raised $13 million in a Series A round led by Iporanga Ventures, angel investor Lachy Groom, the K5 Global fund and Norte Capital, as well as the founders of companies such as Dropbox, Figma, Rappi, D.Local, Wildlife and Slack.

With the new fundraising, Stark Bank reached the market value of $250 million.

The Esquires and the Firms Behind the Deal

Bronstein, Zilberberg, Chueiri & Potenza Advogados represented and acted as Brazilian legal counsel to Stark Bank as it landed its Series-B equity finance. 

Partner Eduardo Zilberberg led the Bronstein Zilberberg deal team which included associates Paula Bobrow and Paloma Batt.

Bronstein Zilberberg is a full service law firm based in São Paulo and is highly recognized as one of the top M&A Venture Capital law firms in the country. 

Wilson Sonsini  acted as US legal counsel to Stark Bank. 

Salt Lake City/Seattle partner Matt Squires led the firm’s deal team with counsel Vanessa Jacob Hech and associates Maurice Guttmann and Jason Oh. 

Wilson Sonsini is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in 17 cities in the U.S. and abroad.

TozziniFreire Advogados acted as Brazilian legal counsel to See Capital with a team led by partners João Busin,  Beatriz Seixas and Marcos Fonseca.

TozziniFreire is a full service law firm and one of the most traditional law firms of Brazil with headquarters in São Paulo and offices in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Campinas, Porto Alegre, Caxias do Sul and New York. 

The IFRL1000 and Legal 500 accredited partner João Busin is head of the Private Equity & Venture Capital practice group of TozziniFreire and together with Beatriz Seixas are based in the São Paulo headquarters of the firm, and are regarded as renowned specialists in the M&A Venture Capital and emerging growth technology companies spaces.

Foley & Lardner LLP acted as U.S. legal counsel to the Iporanga Ventures. 

The author of Latin America’s Investment Boom and the Pitfalls of American Jurisdiction, Foley’s Silicon Valley partner and Latin America specialist,  Andre Thiollier represented Iporanga Ventures and led the Foley’s legal deal team in structuring the U.S. and international aspects of the transaction for Iporanga Ventures. 

The Am Law 50 Foley & Lardner is a US-based full service global law firm with over 26 offices around the globe. 

Beyond the Law.News was not informed of nor could it verify the name of the law firms representing or acting on behalf of other parties mentioned in this story.