iFood has just announced the acquisition of a 20% minority stake in the Brazilian martech company CRMBonus. The contributed capital will be used by CRMBonus to accelerate technology development and AI investment, as well as to buy back some investors proportionally.
The investment strategy is a second step taken after a successful business partnership established between the two companies, which has already been bringing benefits to both partner restaurants and iFood and iFood Benefits users. The partnership involves issuing Vale Bonus to Clube iFood subscribers and new tools for customer acquisition, loyalty, and monetization for restaurants, driven by CRMBonus solutions.
Strategic partnership focused on retail
Currently, the strategic strength of martech is directly connected to retail, a key market for iFood, which has been expanding its value proposition with an increasingly comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions. The goal is to drive the growth of restaurants and other partners. With the partnership and investment in CRMBonus, iFood advances in this area with even greater strength.We are talking about two Brazilian technology companies that helped redefine their sectors. We have already seen a demonstration of this with the beginning of the partnership, and the potential to combine these two brands to transform the lives of consumers and merchants is immense. We are talking about Brazilian technology made by Brazilians for Brazilians., affirms Diego Barreto, CEO of iFood.
Brazilian technology made by Brazilians
According to Alexandre Zolko, CEO and founder of CRMBonus, the partnership with iFood is both future and present. The first partnership had already opened several fronts for the restaurants:Today, we already enable iFood partner restaurants to strengthen their loyalty strategies through offering credits at CRMBonus partner brands, as well as attract new customers to their establishments through our platform. With this investment, many great things are coming; I am excited about what we will create together. Having the technology company I admire most in Brazil as our partners is a pride; we will learn a lot from iFood's expertise and jointly develop increasingly relevant and innovative solutions for our retail segments. A great example of what we want to develop is a gift platform powered by AI and high delivery convenience. We understand that this initiative has the potential to represent for the retail market what iFood represents for restaurants – it could be transformational.
New solutions and new experiences for users
It is also part of the joint plans of the companies to boost the CRM system already offered by iFood Pago. With CRMBonus's expertise, the tool will become even smarter in suggesting cashback strategies so that restaurants can attract and retain more customers.
Another initiative envisioned for iFood partners is access to an additional sales channel: the Vale Bonus app by CRMBonus, which will direct its base of millions of users to shop at iFood partner establishments, both physically and digitally, representing another boost in traffic generation for the establishments, thereby strengthening iFood's position beyond the online world. The integration with Vale Bonus is another example of how the two companies will work together, along with other iFood partners, to create a digital convenience environment, where consumers have access to a wide variety of products and services in a seamless and integrated experience.
The listed initiatives are just some of the numerous joint possibilities between the companies, justifying the investment. Although thevaluationsince the current transaction has not been disclosed, the round represents a newuproundregarding the investment made by Bond Capital in May 2024, when CRMBonus was valued at R$ 2.2 billion.
The operation and the new partnership to be established between iFood and CRMBonus still depend on approval from regulatory agencies.
