Bidu Holdings (www.bidu.com.br) was established in 2012 with funding from a group of investors including Brazilian VC Monashees Capital. Bidu is a rapidly growing business that has already become the country’s most-visited insurance price comparison site and broker for automotive insurance, reaching potential customers through a variety of digital channels.
The B round funding of R$20m (US$8.9m), led by Amadeus with participation from Monashees Capital, Bertelsmann and Otto Capital Partners, will be used to strike new partnerships, diversify the company’s products and build market share. In addition to auto insurance, Bidu offers other lines of insurance and financial products, such as credit cards.
Bidu is not tied to any one insurance company. Its sophisticated technology platform allows it to present multiple real-time quotes from ten insurers in Brazil. Consumers benefit by receiving the lowest price insurance, coupled with great customer service and the speed and convenience of a world-class online experience.
Commenting on the investment, Amadeus Partner Pat Burtis says: “Bidu is an exciting company using the internet to reach people, including the young, who might not typically buy or have insurance and thus, through a sophisticated online product, expand the whole insurance market in Brazil. The team, led by an experienced CEO, Eldes Mattiuzzo, comes from some of the best internet companies in the country. They have already demonstrated the ability to deliver rapid revenue growth and build market share in the world’s seventh largest economy with some 100m internet users. We are delighted to be able to support Bidu’s next stage of growth.”
“Amadeus is one of the leading venture capital firms in the world and has witnessed the cycle of insurance technology development in Europe,” says Bidu CEO, Eldes Mattiuzzo. “This round, led by Amadeus, motivates us even more to continually improve our core values and to offer the best experience in quoting and offering insurance with excellent customer service in Brazil. It also reinforces our conviction in the great growth potential of the online insurance market in our country. With this funding, we shall bring to an ever-growing number of Brazilians a new way of buying insurance - faster, simpler, with more options and easier to understand. This is the power of customer choice.”
Pat Burtis will join Bidu’s Board of Directors. Advisers on the investment were Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP and Rosewood Due Diligence for the investors, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for Bidu.
The Amadeus IV Digital Prosperity Fund, which held a first close in July 2013 at $75m, invests in later stage venture and growth companies developing online and mobile applications and services targeted at the rapidly expanding middle classes in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The cornerstone investor in the Fund is MTN Group, the global telecoms provider headquartered in Johannesburg with operations in 22 countries. MTN is one of the top ten mobile operators in the world and the largest in Africa and the Middle East, with over 210 million subscribers; it is an acknowledged innovator in mobile financial services, media and subscriber management.
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