Cortex lands R$120 million in SoftBank-led round to boost growth intelligence platform

Contxto – In a round as big as the data they manage, Cortex, a Brazilian startup raised R$120 million (around US$22.8 million) led by the, now less active, Japanese conglomerate, SoftBank. According to Terra.com, Redpoint eventures and Endeavor Catalyst also joined the party.

Cortex is a marketing and sales manager that uses internal corporate information as well as market data to provide customers with forecasts, suggestions, and insights relevant to their current decision making.

It already serves big companies including Chrysler, L’Oreal, Roche, Unilever, Fiat, Carrefour, Visa, and Claro.

“We are excited about our partnership with Cortex, which has a great opportunity to help companies across the region,” said Marcelo Claure, executive president of Grupo SoftBank Internacional, in a note.

Cortex Growth Intelligence

As a self-declared “growth intelligence” company, the platform manages most parts of the marketing funnel.

It offers products ranging from top-level marketing strategy and brand awareness such as Cortex CMO, PR, to more nitty-gritty and specialized sales tools, such as a market Intelligence platform, and even a government bids platform. They’re also working on launching two new products: Cortex Direct for outbound sales and Cortex Retail.

Brazilian founders Daniel Pires and Leonardo Rangel launched the company in 2003 and it currently has offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Now, although the company has a solid concentration in Brazilian-based customers, it also operates in other Latin American and European countries. 

[wd_hustle id=”InArticleOptin” type=”embedded”/]

According to Pires, this round will increase the company’s growth pace and will continue product development.

“With this new investment, we will be stronger to continue growing and seeking our goal of disseminating the analytical culture in the country through our data intelligence solutions,” said Pires, also in a note.

To date the company offers six different intelligence solutions to more than 30 clients across the five continents.

Brazil, in my opinion, is the starting point for Latin American tech exports. While many Spanish speaking LatAm tech companies focus on their national and regional markets, Brazilian companies are paving the way for multincontinel expansion. 

Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!

-VC