Free Market for rural producers, Clicampo startup raises BRL 40 million

Agtech founded in 2021 connects small farmers and retailers in major capitals through a marketplace

THE clicka startup that connects rural producers to restaurants and retailers in large cities, announced the BRL 40 million in a seed round led by the Valor Capital Group and MAYA Capital funds.

Angel investors Marcelo Abritta, founder of Buser; Rafael Costa, founder of Across Capital and former Vulcan Capital; Luis Cascão, founder of Truepay, in addition to the founding teams of startups Agrolend and Pier.

Founded in 2021, Clicampo was born to solve one of the main inefficiencies of national agriculture: the logistical bottlenecks that cause a disconnection between what is produced by small and medium-sized farmers and the store shelves and the menus of restaurants in large capitals. On another front, Clicampo is also willing to help these retailers and restaurants in search of high standard suppliers, with fresh items that follow certain quality standards.

For this, Clicampo works as a marketplace, a “Free Market” for family farmers, connecting producers who advertise their products online and restaurants and retailers in the metropolises. To end the delay and disconnection, the startup is also in charge of the logistics part, making deliveries to the point of sale, as well as the e-commerce giant mentioned for comparison purposes.

At the head of the startup are entrepreneurs José Miguel Noblecilla, Luiza Batista, Bruno Mengatti and Yuri Janotti, executives with stints in the areas of marketing, technology sales, operations and products from companies such as Rappi, Uber and Wildlife Studios. Already in the presidency is Victor Bernardino, the son of a family farmer and an employee with almost three decades of experience in the restaurant sector.

According to Bernardino, the company’s CEO, Clicampo’s potential audience is around 4 million farming families who face certain setbacks in production, including remuneration punished by inefficiencies that can happen along the chain. With that in mind, the Clicampo undertakes to remunerate producers at an average up to three times higher than that practiced by the market.

“After a year of market tests, this investment comes to consolidate our value proposition and prove that small-scale national agriculture has great profitable potential for all stages of the chain, especially for local producing families”, he says.

Currently, the startup operates in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Campinas. A third city, also served by Clicampo, is not disclosed by the founders.

With the contribution, the intention will be to invest in new technologies and resources on the platform, strengthen the communities of rural farmers who already sell items there and also reach new markets. By the end of the year, the goal is to be in up to five cities in the country, and then grow 20 times over the next two years. In terms of volume, the intention is to sell around 3,000 tons of fresh food per month.

This growth will be supported by the inclusion of new areas of activity and also new sales segments, such as small retailers, large restaurant chains and digital supermarket startups.

“We will invest heavily in supporting this thesis, developing technologies for the platform, expanding our team with highly talented professionals connected to this purpose. We also seek to create long-term partnerships with different market players who are on the same mission”, he says.

Social development

While targeting a public lacking logistical and financial options to scale their productions, Clicampo also intends to play a social role in the economic development of small farmers in the country. One of the ways to do this is by supporting communities and production centers that are especially isolated. One of these places is the region of Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais.

There, Clicampo helps farmers in the region impacted by the dam collapse in 2019 in partnership with the Superação Brumadinho project, an action conducted by the FAEMG/SENAR/INAES System, the Rural Union with local farmers and NovoAgro. The expectation, according to the startup, is to impact up to 300 small producers affected by the disaster, allowing a growth of up to 40% in their family income.

Source: Exam