SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> reached an agreement to invest 250 million reais ($48 million) in pet products online retailer Petlove, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
The investment will come from SoftBank’s Latin America fund, adding to previous venture capital investments from KasZek Ventures, Monashees and private equity firm Tarpon.
Petlove founder Marcio Waldman said in a statement the investment would help accelerate Petlove’s growth amid higher demand for online services during the social isolation period mandated by Brazilian authorities to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Brazil’s pet market had 24 billion reais in revenue last year, among the three largest in the world, according to Euromonitor data. Online sales represent only 3.8% of
total sales of pet supplies in Brazil, whereas in the United States they exceed 18% said SoftBank partner Paulo Passoni in the statement.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Edmund Blair and Steve Orlofsky)
