DEALBOOK; Venture Firm Seeks the Atypical, and Finds It in Brazil – query.nytimes.com02/24/2012
Venture capital firm Atomico, which looks for profitable, bare-bones start-ups, believes there are many opportunities in South America; London-based company has two investments in Brazil.MARILIA, Brazil – Atomico went off the beaten path for its first investment in Brazil, and not just in terms of geography.Last year, Haroldo Korte, a partner at the venture capital firm, drove 300 miles from Sao Paulo deep into the southern rural interior to meet with Paulo Biancalana, a self-made entrepreneur with no university education who had turned a local auto accessories dealer into a fast-growing Internet business. Working out of a ramshackle building, he had become the country’s top seller on a leading e-commerce site, MercadoLibre, and started Connectparts – which together gave him annual sales of $10 million.
Atomico had to woo Mr. Biancalana, who was initially suspicious of outside investors. After roughly six months and a half-dozen meetings, Atomico invested $7.5 million in the start-up, which is now being courted by other venture capital firms.
