SoftBank leads $110m round for Brazilian home goods retailer MadeiraMadeira

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp has led a $110-million financing round for Brazilian online home goods platform MadeiraMadeira, according to a statement on Tuesday.

SoftBank‘s fresh capital for MadeiraMadeira comes from its $5-billion Latin America fund, launched in March, which has been directed to sectors ranging from banking and real estate to home goods and delivery services.

Investment firm Light Street Capital is also participating in the funding round, alongside SoftBank and Flybridge Capital, which is already an investor in MadeiraMadeira.

The Brazilian retailer, which offers around a million home furnishing products, said it will use the proceeds to invest in technology, logistics and customer services.

MadeiraMadeira operates like US furniture retailers Wayfair Inc and Build.com. Its investors include Niraj Shah, chief executive and founder of Wayfair, and Christian Friedland, founder of Build.com.

By selling furniture to customers without holding inventory, the company aims to keep down capital costs. When a client buys a table at its website, for instance, that order goes directly to the furniture maker, which has its own inventory. Currently, MadeiraMadeira manages products in 450 third-party distribution centres.

Daniel Scandian, chief executive and co-founder of MadeiraMadeira, told Reuters the company plans to expand operations beyond Brazil in Latin America, although it will first concentrate investments in the region’s largest economy.

A former professional racing driver, Scandian joined his brother Marcelo and Robson Privado to launch MadeiraMadeira after his family’s flooring business went under in the 2009 global financial crisis.

MadeiraMadeira, which has just reached break-even, has already raised $38.8 million in three previous financing rounds with investors such as venture capital firms Monashees, Kaszek, and Flybridge.

Lazard Ltd advised MadeiraMadeira in the most recent financing round.

Reuters

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.