KPTL wins call to manage venture capital fund of Brazil's Finep

Asset management group KPTL won a tender held by Brazil’s research and financing entity Finep to manage the agency’s new venture capital fund.

KPTL’s responsibilities will include supporting startups that have received investments from Finep, recommending follow-on investments, and seeking exit opportunities, Finep said in a release.

The fund, FIP Finep Startup 1, kicks off with an initial investment of 45mn reais (US$9.27mn) and will receive the portfolio of 25 firms that have obtained funding from Finep’s startup program.

Launched in 2017, the program is part of the agency's venture capital initiatives to support the development of science, technology and innovation.

In addition to KPTL, Lions Trust Administradora de Recursos was selected as the fund's financial administrator.

For the VC investments, Finep does not need to issue calls anymore.

"There was a change in the law and today the agency no longer needs to launch a call, it can evaluate the projects it receives on a case-by-case basis," Marcelo Camargo, Finep's head of applied research and development, told BNamericas in March.

With 1bn reais under management divided among six funds, KPTL has invested in 110 companies, 51 of which remain in its portfolio. Of these, 10 have corporations as co-investors.

“We’re today the biggest IoT investor in Brazil. We have 16 or 17 companies in IoT,” KPTL CEO Renato Ramalho told BNamericas earlier this year. In the interview he said that this year’s target was some 20 deals, among new investments and follow-on funding.

KPTL was also the manager of the BNDES-created Criatec fund, as well as developer of corporate venture capital funds, such as the one for Banco Regional de Brasília.

Multilaser, Positivo, Jacto and Fundo Vale are some of KPTL’s backers.