Gomide explained the reasons for choosing the United States to InfoMoney Interview. Check out edited excerpts from the interview below, which is available in full on the InfoMoney YouTube channel.
Also read:
InfoMoney: What was the company’s IPO process like?
Mariano Gomide: VTEX turns 25 this year. In the beginning, we were very focused on Brazil and, after 10 years, we started to expand to the world. After conquering Latin America, we expanded to North America and Europe. This coincided with the end of 2020 and the pandemic ‘exploding’. At that moment, we had plenty of cash and the prospect of almost infinite growth ahead of us because everything started to be done online.
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In 2021, we had our IPO, a very successful opening. We were lucky because it was the right time, the right time and the company was prepared for the IPO. We managed to capture a cool moment in the market. The company opened at US$19 and two or three months later, it reached US$32. It was a very successful IPO.
IM: From the IPO until now, the company has gone through some bumps. How is the company doing now?
MG: A few months after the IPO, the market reversed, interest rates actually increased a lot, all mid capital companies [empresas listadas de capitalização intermediária] suffered a lot. The interest [dos EUA] they go from 0.25% to 4.5%. VTEX continues to deliver results, growth and consolidation. Over the last 12 months, we have consistently significantly increased the company’s gross margin and significantly increased the company’s bottom line – the net margin.
The company grew very quickly during COVID and this caused operational problems. We managed to adjust the team and, today, the company is doing well, is running well, is well allocated around the world and has the right team.
So, I’m really excited for what’s ahead. VTEX began to be recognized as a global software brand alongside companies such as Adobe, SAP, Oracle. It makes us very proud to be one.
I’m very proud and very excited for what lies ahead. Over the past 12 months, we have launched many new products and services. There is a lot of room for VTEX to grow, both in Brazil and in Latin America.
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IM: In 2021, when you decided to go public, what led you to choose the United States?
MG: I have the thesis that you do an IPO for three reasons: 1) you need to do an [emissão] primary, because your business is capital intensive and you need cash to grow – and the more you grow, the more you need cash; 2) you need to make a [emissão] secondary because there is an investor who has to leave or there is a need to restructure the cap table [organização societária da empresa]; 3) you do it for marketing reasons.
VTEX had no one wanting to leave and we were already very capitalized. So, the reason that led us to go public was marketing.
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And in this sense, the future of VTEX is to be a global company, where the United States and Europe have a greater share than Latin America. We are still a long way from that future, but in this sense, going public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a sign of being considered more ‘American friendly’. It would be much more complicated for the company to sell abroad as a Brazilian public company than as an American public company.
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IM: Why not go public in Brazil too?
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MG: There is always that question of ‘why not also open here, on the Brazilian Stock Exchange?’. But this is just a technical issue: it would be necessary to dilute the liquidity of the paper a little and it wouldn’t make sense.
It’s an exchange we need to make: I would love to be open in Brazil to allow Brazilians to enter and share this movement that is Brazilian engineering making a difference abroad, but, technically, it wouldn’t make sense or doesn’t make sense at the moment to open here in Brazil.
The NYSE is a club of 2,400 companies. Very few companies in the world and very few technology companies in Brazil have access to this club. VTEX is opening the market to several other Brazilian engineering companies, whether in management, manufacturing or software.
Looking back, it was a good choice, I would choose to open abroad again.
