Warren acquires investment consolidation platform Meuportfolio

Essa notícia também está disponível em português

Warren had gone a bit amiss from the M&A scene, but it is now back with a new deal. The brokerage and investment management firm from Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of Brazil, has purchased investment consolidation platform Meuportfolio for an undisclosed sum. With the transaction, the 20-strong team will be brought into Warren, but the acquired brand will continue to exist – at least for now.

The consolidation of consolidators

The operation follows similar moves previously made by XP, BTG, PicPay and even Nubank, which acquired, respectively, Fliper, Kinvo, GuiaBolso and Olivia, to offer their clients personal financial management tools.     

Unlike the names mentioned above, Meuportfolio does not have an app that can be downloaded in the app stores. The company created in 2019 operates on the B2B model, selling its technology to family offices, offices of self-employed agents, etc.

Given that business profile and focus, the idea is to first start offering the investment consolidation feature to customers of the multi-family office Vitra, acquired by Warren in October. “Investors with more resources have assets distributed across several places. Consolidation is a must,” says Fabio Safini, commercial director at Warren. Although the initial synergies are clear, the idea is not to restrict the service to wealthy individuals. Soon, all the clients of the brokerage firm should have access to the tool.    

In addition to fixed and variable income investments, Meuportfolio offers the consolidation of alternative investments such as crypto, and the idea is to evolve to even more assets, including NFTs and other modalities. “It is a never-ending product,” Safini points out.

From “flirtation” to “marriage”

The conversations between the companies started early last year with a commercial angle. Meuporfolio approached Warren in the first semester of the year as part of negotiations with a potential new customer. After some testing, the conversations evolved into the possibility of a deeper relationship, says Felipe Bossolano, co-founder at Meuportfolio. “I was already a Warren customer, and had been following what they were doing, and there was a nice synergy,” he notes.

The company had already raised a round of 1 million Brazilian reais ($210,000) through the EqSeed platform in January 2021. The fundraising process lasted three days and was joined by 77 investors. The plan was to use the resources to strengthen its performance in B2B and also make the first foray into B2C.  

Warren’s plans

Warren currently has over 20 billion Brazilian reais ($4 billion) of assets under management. The plan is to end 2022 with something in the range of 35-40 billion Brazilian reais (between $7-8 billion). This growth projection does not consider new acquisitions of other companies or portfolios. “It has been a complicated year, but we are basically betting on our organic growth. I believe that we have built a solid base that allows us to advance at this speed. M&A is an opportunity to move faster. If something comes up we will look at it, as usual,” says Safini.  

(translation by Fabiana Rolfini, editing by Angelica Mari)