Locaweb Acquires Bling for R$ 524.3 million

In late April, leading Brazilian web hosting and internet services company Locaweb acquired Bling, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) business, for R$ 524.3 million, marking its third acquisition since its R$2.7 billion follow-on in February of this year.

Bling was founded in 2009 in Rio Grande do Sul as an online management system targeting micro-to-small businesses which provides solutions for invoice and stock management, among other services. With the advent of open banking in Brazil, Bling has invested in its digital integration with the banking system and, in the upcoming months, will launch new PIX-related services, easing the access of smaller companies into the financial system.

Simultaneously, Locaweb has also signed a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of Pagcerto, a payment services company which will also be added to Bling’s platform.

Locaweb has embarked on an impressive M&A spree since raising R$575 million via its IPO in February 2020, with over 10 acquisitions taking place over the last 15 months. Social Miner, Etus, Vindi, Melhor Envio, Connectplug, Samurai, Credisfera and Dooca Commerce are some of the companies which have recently been purchased by the rapidly-growing tech giant.

“With this acquisition, Locaweb, which already has the most complete tech solutions ecosystem for micro-to-small companies and a strong presence in the e-commerce market, renders its portfolio even more robust and enters the important and synergistic market of e-commerce systems.”, announced the company via an official statement.