Brazilian ERP firm Totvs advances fintech strategy

Brazilian enterprise software giant Totvs has acquired Supplier, a local firm specialized in B2B credit intermediation as part of its new shift towards financial services provision.

The goal is to integrate Supplier's credit capability and data analytics features with the Totvs offering, to speed up credit approval processes between vendors and their clients. Supplier is particularly strong in the manufacturing and distribution space.

Supplier was founded by former directors of Itaú, Brazil's largest private bank, who remain as managers and minority shareholders. The deal is valued at 455.2 million reais ($113.8 million) and is part of the company's new focus in the financial services space.

Earlier in 2019, Totvs launched a fintech arm to boost the functionality of its systems portfolio. By blending its systems with technology from partners and startups, the Brazilian ERP vendor hopes to "simplify, extend and lower customer access to credit and financial services in general."

As part of its new strategy, Totvs sought to correct past mistakes. In May 2019, it sold its hardware business Bematech, which it had acquired as part of a previous strategy to sell its software offerings to restaurants, retailers and hotels.

However, that was a bitter pill to swallow: The company, purchased in 2015 for about 550 million reais ($137 million) was sold to Elgin for a meagre 25 million reais ($6.2 million), making it one of the worst deals ever seen in the Brazilian IT sector.