iFood announced the acquisition of Advolve, a Brazilian startup specialized in artificial intelligence applied to marketing. With the purchase, the delivery company reinforces its advertising front. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
The acquired company specializes in generating, analyzing, redoing and redistributing digital marketing pieces. Even with the purchase of 100% of the operation, the brand will continue independently.
Founders João Sobreira, João Paulo Martins and Djary Veiga and all Advolve employees remain with the company.
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iFood usually follows a strategy until reaching an acquisition, says Thiago Viana, partner and director of innovation and partnerships at the company. “We test at home, learn and find ways. Until now, to accelerate this new front, we tend to look for strategic partners.”
In the case of Advolve, an additional ingredient was added: the startup had already been validated by the venture capital arm of Prosus, the owner of iFood. The US$5 million investment was made in February, in a round in which a minority stake was entered.
Strategic position
iFood argues that it has a competitive advantage when selling advertisements, as it is a company without its own stock. “We are partner agnostic,” says Viana. This means that industries such as food, beverage and healthcare can advertise there without favoring a particular retailer.
Within the iFood ecosystem, Advolve will have access to more user behavior data – which will further contribute to the personalization of ads, points out the startup’s partner, João Sobreira.
The “ads” area was created in 2021 on iFood. The company argues that it offers advertising space with exposure to 60 million users “at times of high purchase intention”. More than 230 companies have already advertised on iFood Ads in the areas of restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies and pet stores, points out Sam James, vice president of the vertical.
Advolve was created at the end of 2023. iFood was one of the first customers and soon became the main one. The startup has an AI architecture that runs simultaneous tests of digital marketing campaigns and allocates investments according to the performances presented. The tool automatically creates and adjusts creative elements such as texts, images and videos for different pieces and ad channels.
Continues after advertising
iFood’s advancement in artificial intelligence was recently reinforced with the development of its own model, capable of cross-referencing data with more precision and detail within the platform’s various areas of activity. The initiative is central to the group’s growth model, which estimates a 30% contribution from artificial intelligence to operating profit (EBITDA).
