São Paulo, Brazil-based FinTech Stark Bank received $45 million in a Series B round with support from Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, Bloomberg reported Monday (April 11).
The transaction is the first deal in Brazil from Bezos Expeditions. Headquartered in the state of Washington, the $108 billion investment firm serves as the management team for the billionaire’s personal investments.
Bezos’ company had previously invested in Latin American startups, per the report, including the Chile-based company NotCo.
Financing was led by Ribbit Capital, a Palo Alto, California-based venture capital firm. SEA Capital and current investors Lachy Groom and K5 Global participated in the round, as did the founders of Airbnb and Kavak and executives from DST, Visa and Coinbase.
The deal announcement follows a $13 million investment from venture capital investors in an initial round, according to Reuters. The report noted that it came at a time when investments in Brazilian startups were disappearing.
While Stark Bank did not disclose how much it is valued after the round, its founder, Rafael Stark, said the transaction puts it close to unicorn status, which would be more than $1 billion. Stark said the new cash will allow the bank to increase its products portfolio.
Bezos has his fingers in lots of pies. In March, Amazon closed on its $6.5 billion acquisition of movie and TV studio MGM.
Read more: Amazon Closes $6.5B MGM Acquisition
The deal is Amazon’s second largest, following its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017. It gives the company access to a library of 4,000 movies, including the James Bond films and 17,000 episodes of television, providing it with a better position to compete against streaming rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
Under the terms of the acquisition, MGM will become part of Amazon’s Prime Video and Studios unit, overseen by Senior Vice President Mike Hopkins.
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