Media group based in Amazonas turns into a associate of the Bossanova fund and goals for income of R$ 500 million

The Mene & Portella group, with businesses in advertising and managing digital influencers, bought a minority stake in the VC fund founded by João Kepler and Pierre Schurmann

One of the most active names in the publicity Of region Norththe communication group Mene & Portella bought a minority stake in Bossanova Investmentsventure capital led by john kepler and Pierre Schurmann with more than 1,600 startups in the portfolio.

The partners will enter via CaptAll Ventures, the venture vehicle opened by Mene & Portella to coordinate investments in technology businesses.

In addition to Mene & Portella, Lessandro Herbert, CEO of Hebert Engenharia and Coppi Empreendimentos, also joined the group of partners in the venture capital.

What is Bossanova Investimentos?

Mene & Portella join a team of references among startups who are also minority partners in Bossanova:

• Bank BMG
• Primo Group, from youtuber Thiago Nigro
• Thiago Oliveirafounder of logistics company IS Log & Services
• Janguiê Dinizfounder of Ser Educacional and Instituto Êxito

The arrival of the partners comes at an active moment for Bossanova, elected the 15th most active venture capital in early stage in the second quarter of this year — the only name in Latin America in the global ranking of the American PitchBook Data, one of the main providers of data on private capital of the world.

It was also named as the 8th most active venture capital in investments made outside the US, Europe and China axis in the same period.

In the first half of 2022, Bossanova invested BRL 26.8 million in startups, more than double the volume of investments compared to the same period last year, with BRL 13 million.

What are the plans for the new society

Mene & Portella’s partners met Kepler in a course by the founder of Bossanova on angel investing, years ago. Since then, the three have maintained a close business relationship.

In August, the partners of Mene & Portella and Bossanova invested together in the influencer channel manager Non Stop.

“We have the mentality of valuing those who add to Bossanova’s growth. Since CaptAll Ventures and Lessandro Herbert started investing with us, we have been strengthening our relationship, realizing that the specialties and experiences they bring could come together with our future plans and bring us even greater dynamism in the market”, says Kepler .

The expectation is that the new partners feel on Bossanova’s board with ideas to improve the communication of the businesses invested by Bossanova.

“We want their expertise to rethink media strategies to replicate some good practices at Bossanova”, he says.

who are the partners

Behind Mene & Portella are the entrepreneurs Túlio Mene Melo and Nilio Braga Portellafriends since the time they were studying Economics at a university in Manaus.

The history of Mene & Portella is an example of how the mindset of radical innovation it is no longer a privilege of Faria Lima’s circles to become a daily conversation of entrepreneurs from Oiapoque to Chuí.

At the turn of the 2010s, the partners started an advertising agency to serve clients in the North region.

“We were economics students looking for a business opportunity to start from scratch and grow fast”, says Mêne Melo.

“We had nothing to do with the world of communication. The decision to open something in this market was after putting together a short list of business ideas and their pros and cons.”

In the early years, one of the strengths was the assembly of promotional materials for projects by national construction companies, such as Tecnisa and Gafisa, launched in the capital of Amazonas.

Since then, the partners’ attention has shifted to other media businesses capable of grabbing the time of a vast and diverse audience.

“The fact that we don’t have a background in Communication forced us to search for a lot of information while the business was running”, says Portella.

“And for us it was clear that just an advertising business was not enough for the size of the possibilities opened up by the new media.”

The shift began to take shape six years ago with the partners’ investment in One Big Media, an agency in Minas Gerais focused on managing influencers YouTube channel, currently with over 100 channels.

Where are Mene & Portella’s operations

In the portfolio are big shots like the commentator Reginaldo Leme, former Globo and currently owner of the AutoMotor channel.

Profits from advertising operations were eventually reinvested in buying minority stakes in other media businesses.

“We understand our role as directing resources and expertise to any type of business capable of meeting the new demands of the media universe”, says Mêne Melo.

Until the acquisition of Bossanova, Mene & Portella’s portfolio consisted of:

• One Big Media: media tech partner of more than 120 digital assets, most of them channels on YouTube and Kwai with over 70 million subscribers and over 12 billion views.
• Tract: startup from Alagoas developer of a graphic design platform that allows small business to create marketing pieces. The company has more than 500 thousand users and 15% of the revenue comes from subscriptions abroad. Since its creation, the startup has raised 10 million reais.
• ShowKase: technology company to create virtual stores, most of them focused on the sale of licensed products with the brand of digital influencers.
• Hitbel: consultancy for the copyright management of content published by digital influencers on streaming platforms such as YouTube, Deezer, Spotify and Tik Tok.
• OnMovie: low cost video editing platform
• Oinc Films: producer of gospel content, such as the cartoon Três Palavrinhas.
• Non Stop: company specialized in influencer marketing and on demand content, responsible for names such as Whindersson Nunes, Gkay and Simone Mendeswhose minority interest was acquired in August of this year.
• CaptAll Ventures: investment vehicle in startups that focuses on audience generation and creative economy, such as martechs, adtechs and mediatechs, and has more than 200 invested startups.

In 2021, the business group around Mene & Portella earned 250 million reais, a leap from the volume of 2020: 100 million reais.

For this year, the expectation of the partners is a 100% increase in revenues and reach the mark of 500 million reais.

Source: Exam