Softbank financial institution new advertising consultancy devoted to investees

United Creators, Distrito and Grupo Nexcom will be partners in Revo, which will have the initial billing guaranteed by Softbank

In an environment of scarce liquidity, the more rational use of cash is an imperative—somewhat obvious—for startups, but not exactly simple. To improve the efficiency of the investments in marketing of the investees of the portfolio in Latin America, Softbank has just sponsored the creation of Revo, a company dedicated to the 88 investees of the firm of Masayoshi Son.

“We were looking for a supplier, but we couldn’t find it. So, we decided to develop one”, said Eduardo Vieira, Softbank’s marketing, communication and corporate relations leader for Latin America. In building the new business, the executive went on a tour and took advantage of the knowledge accumulated over the years at the agency — he founded Ideal and WPP.

Softbank will guarantee a good part of Revo’s revenue, buying services that will be offered to the startups in the portfolio, but it will not be a partner. The new company arises from the union of three groups with different expertise: United Creators, holding company that controls the advertising agency Suno; the District startup hub; and Grupo Nexcom, owner of the communication agencies Fato Relevante and Pub — a firm that has clients such as Softbank and XP.

Vieira does not disclose the terms of the investment, but sources who know the deal say that Revo has already started operating, interacting with startups such as Descomplica, MadeiraMadeira, Creditas, Unico, QuintoAndar and WeWork.

To run the operation, Revo brought in two executives: Stella Guillaumon, who was growth director at Microsoft and also worked at Adobe, and Cintia Gonçalves, founder of the consultancy Wiz&Watcher and former partner of the marketing agency Almap BBDO. The Revo team already has around 15 people, combining business experience, data intelligence and media.

For Softbank, the creation of Revo meets a need to improve an area that takes a large part of the funds raised by startups. It is estimated that 40% of the contributions received are directed to investments in marketing. “One of the common pains of portfolio companies is improving the CAC/LTV ratio. With Revo, we will provide more intelligence to better understand the channels,” said Vieira.

The consultancy will exclusively serve the portfolio companies, but the revenue guaranteed by Softbank will not be the only one. At the same time, startups themselves will be able to hire Revo’s services. Vieira’s expectation is that, over time, new services will be created by the new company.

Source: Value Pipeline