Volpi desires to switch banks in actual property credit score — and already has R$ 150 million from RBR

Fintech created by former PDG and Gafisa Cauê Cardoso bets on the capital market as an alternative to depleting savings resources

With Selic on the rise, savings are less and less attractive and bankbook withdrawals are more intense. While cheap funding from banks for real estate financing is scarce, an executive who has made a career in developers like PDG and Gafisa saw an opportunity.

Head of sales at Gafisa until 2020 and co-founder of PDG — which he left in 2012 to be a partner at the management company Crescera —, Cauê Cardoso started structuring fintech Volpi almost two years ago with a thesis: using the capital market in real estate financing.

If the proposal seemed somewhat unfeasible when Selic was at its lowest, when the scenario changed radically, Volpi began to attract investors. RBR Asset, a manager with more than BRL 7.5 billion invested in real estate and infrastructure vehicles, has just closed an agreement with Volpi to provide up to BRL 150 million in funding for fintech operations.

“Cauê has experience in the real estate market and knows how to speak the developer’s language, but timing is everything. Two years ago, we would not have agreed to set up this structure”, admits Guilherme Antunes, real estate credit manager at RBR.

To compete with the banks, Volpi invested in technology to build a more customer-friendly and less bureaucratic platform, leaving the tiring routine of contracts that go back to managers to be redone for various problems.

“I saw a big space to put a digital solution”, says Cardoso. In the Volpi model, there has already been a client who closed the purchase of a new apartment at a developer’s stand at the weekend and, in just four days, the contract was already signed.

The fintech platform was built with a team that includes Rondy Sousa, a software engineer who has worked for companies like Nubank, and Natalia Teixeira (ex-BR Malls) as head of marketing.

Sandor Caetano, head of data at iFood, is a mentor, investor and board member at Volpi. To run the operation, Volpi made an equity round (of undisclosed value) with angels that also include Edison Ticle (Minerva), Pedro Donati (ex-Falconi) and Flávia Goulart (Facebook community director).

With the funds guaranteed by RBR, Volpi wants to release R$ 15 million per month in new real estate financing, using all the fund manager’s funding in one year. To reach customers, the startup approached developers, establishing partnerships with firms such as Cyrela, Vitacon, Even and Melnick, among others.

Faced with the depletion of savings resources, the founder of Volpi guarantees that he was able to obtain a competitive credit offer. The total cost of financing granted by the startup is at 14.01% per year, while in large banks it is 13.88%, according to data compiled by the company itself.

For RBR investors, the partnership with Volpi — the manager has also partnered with other startups in the real estate sector, such as Tabas and Yuca — is a way to reach clients who finance new apartments. RBR’s funding will come from Real Estate Receivables Certificates (CRIs) purchased by the manager’s real estate funds.

Source: Value Pipeline