How Sterna has helped Israeli startups to settle in Brazil

Partnership with APEX and ABVCAP aims to boost the Brazilian startup ecosystem

The Scaleup in Brazil project, by ApexBrasil and ABVCAP, is responsible for opening the country’s doors to international companies experiencing exponential growth. With the support of Sterna, the program’s mission is to make the operation of these businesses tangible in Brazilian lands.

The first step is to put foreign companies in contact with the Brazilian market so that they can learn about the country’s rules and laws. After that, immersion begins, followed by pivoting, the moment to structure the business to enter the market.
Since it was created, in 2019, the program has already had 15 scale ups from Israel selected, of these, eight already have their businesses heated in Brazil and two continued with their individual consultancies with Sterna even after the end of the program.
According to Sérgio Gustavo Rossi, International Investment Analyst at ApexBrasil, this shows how satisfied startups are with the quality offered by Sterna.

“Sterna delivers a great value to the program, it was very interesting to work with them, we received a series of positive feedbacks and the quality of deliveries is surprising. The program seeks partners with this level of quality, this is the reason why we managed to scale” , he highlights.

The program has three main pillars: market orientation, access to potential clients and access to strategic information. Sterna is responsible for guiding the entrepreneur to operate here in Brazil.

“We identified that even though the company may have access to all the program information, if it does not have an individualized expansion plan in Brazil, that will strategically indicate who are the potential competitors, market players, advantageous cities to open the operation, structuring financially, the operation doesn’t move forward. So it is literally taking the company’s hand and opening the paths for it to feel guided here in the Brazilian market and Sterna does that”, recalls Sérgio.

“Working together with APEX and ABVCAP on Scaleup in Brazil is rewarding. We work bringing innovation to Brazil and helping to position several startups in the national market, whilst working to reduce the cultural and knowledge gap and positioning each business closer to those who make more sense. It’s really a great challenge, but the insights that our team of specialists have in the national market make a lot of difference for the entry of these startups here in our country”.

Raquel Kibrit, CEO of Sterna

What can you learn from this case?

Making the international expansion business plan is essential to eliminate the blind zones of entering the new market, do not skip this step.

About ApexBrasil

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. To achieve its objectives, ApexBrasil carries out diversified trade promotion actions aimed at promoting exports and valuing Brazilian products and services abroad, such as prospective and trade missions, business roundtables, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international fairs, visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian production structure, among other business platforms that also aim to strengthen the Brazil brand.”

Scaleup in Brazil 2022

In its third edition, the program selected 20 companies from Israel, Singapore and Japan. Currently, scale ups are in the process of immersion in the Brazilian market with the support of Sterna.