Brazil is one of the world’s most dynamic consumer markets: large, diverse, entrepreneurial and increasingly digital. BAT and Btomorrow Ventures (BTV), BAT’s global corporate venture capital arm, have identified significant potential to help ambitious Brazilian businesses move from early traction to growth and scale.
Btomorrow Ventures Brasil (BTV Brasil) is the new joint initiative between BAT Brasil and BTV. It combines BTV’s growth capital, venture investment expertise and global startup network with BAT Brasil’s local market knowledge, operational, legal and regulatory expertise, R&D capabilities and extensive distribution reach.
Together, these complementary capabilities can help selected businesses overcome key barriers to growth, from securing capital and navigating a complex operating environment to strengthening commercial execution and expanding distribution.
Brazil is one of BAT’s most important markets globally and has a significant role to play in our transformation. Our ambition is to build a more innovative, future-focused business, and BTV Brasil gives us another way to accelerate that journey — going beyond capital to serve these startups by combining our execution capabilities, operational expertise, and access to over 250,000 retail outlets, while connecting BAT with entrepreneurs, technologies and new business models that can help shape the future of our industry and the wider consumer landscape.
Claudia Woods, President, BAT Latam South
BTV Brasil will focus on differentiated consumer brands and enabling technologies across wellbeing and functional products, retail technology, logistics and data-led commerce. It is particularly interested in businesses creating new consumer occasions, improving retail execution or making commerce more efficient, predictive and personalised.
The initiative supports BAT’s broader corporate transformation strategy to build A Better Tomorrow™. BAT aims to build a smokeless future, with 50% of Group revenue coming from non-combustible products by 2035, while continuing to explore long-term Beyond Nicotine opportunities, particularly in Wellbeing & Stimulation.
Brazil has a dynamic and increasingly sophisticated startup ecosystem, with ambitious founders developing innovative solutions for both local and global markets. Through this initiative, we want to help unlock that potential by giving high-potential companies access to the capital, expertise and commercial capabilities they need to scale.
Lukasz Garbowski, Chief Investment Officer, Btomorrow Ventures
Through BTV Brasil, we can identify and support businesses relevant to this transformation, combining the speed and creativity of startups with the capabilities and reach of an established international consumer goods business.
This movement is powered by the 'T Factor', a proprietary methodology designed to bridge the gap between startup innovation and physical retail scale. By combining the expertise of multidisciplinary teams (Talent) with digital solutions and data intelligence (Technology), the model enables partner companies to unlock maximum value from BAT Brasil’s logistics and distribution infrastructure.
The partnership model is already reflected in BTV and BAT Brasil’s existing collaborations with companies such as Mais Mu and Uello. Through its partnership with BAT Brasil, Mais Mu expanded distribution to approximately 38,000 points of sale within the first few years. Similarly, preceding Mais Mu, BTV invested in and partnered with Uello, last-mile logistics platform serving Brazil's e-commerce and retail sectors, ultimately achieving a successful exit in 2022. These examples demonstrate the potential for combining strategic support with investment capital to drive growth and create value.
“There is a clear before and after BAT in Mais Mu’s journey. BAT has played a fundamental role in helping us scale our brand and commercial footprint, while also contributing significantly to the company’s maturity, particularly when it comes to governance and strategy. If Mais Mu is today a stronger, more mature company, better prepared to lead in the wellness market, BAT has played an important role in getting us here.”
Otto Guarnieri, Co-founder & CEO, Mais Mu
By establishing BTV Brasil, the two organisations aim to build closer relationships with Brazil’s most promising founders and provide them with a clearer route to relevant local and global capabilities.
For entrepreneurs building differentiated consumer brands, retail technologies or commerce infrastructure in Brazil, BTV Brasil is open for conversation.
