ZoomHolding’s story could have ended in 2016. Revenue fell by half, debt exploded and the company needed to reduce 70% of its team to survive. The scenario was one of extreme risk. But it was precisely at the worst moment that the company found the turning point that would completely change its trajectory.
“It was really a moment of very high risk”, recalls Nilton Junior, CEO and founder of ZoomHolding, in an interview with From Zero to Top. “The debt was very high, revenue fell by half in 2016. We had to maintain operations with 30% of the team.”
The entrepreneur, who started working with technology when he was still a teenager, saw the company go from a regional operation to a group that had revenues of R$750 million in 2024 and operates nationally in infrastructure, servers, data centers, software and artificial intelligence.
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The crisis that changed everything
Until 2015, ZoomHolding was heavily dependent on the public sector. The impeachment [da presidente Dilma Rousseff] and the slowdown in government spending directly hit the business.
“We were very focused on government”, he admits. “Impeachment came, the government really put a freeze on spending and then we had a second big crisis”, says the CEO.
The solution was to dismantle the old model and rebuild a new company, practically from scratch.
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“That’s where we diversified our operations a little. We started to invest more heavily in the private market, we also started to work with manufacturing to increase our portfolio and not be dependent on just one technology or product”, recalls the founder and CEO.
According to him, the period required difficult decisions, but also brought business maturity. “No one likes to go through this, but it also has its moment of relevance. The crisis ends up bringing many positive points too.”
The result came quickly. Over the next five years, the company grew 1,600%. “We managed to create an environment of maximum efficiency. The people who stayed joined the fight with the company”, he says.
Towards the billion
The big change came with the diversification of operations. ZoomHolding no longer depends solely on infrastructure projects and now also operates in the manufacturing of computers, servers, distribution and software.
In 2020, the company began producing its own servers, a move that became one of the group’s main lines of growth.
“The servers part allowed us to work on large data center infrastructure projects, bringing the company to another level”, reveals Nilton.
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Today, the company is betting on the advancement of artificial intelligence as the engine for the next phase of expansion.
“AI is a big driver of the next growth”, he states. “We want to be a great example of artificial intelligence applications and operational efficiency.”
The group ended 2024 with growth of 30% and revenue of R$750 million. Now, set your sights on a new milestone. “The projection is to reach close to R$1 billion in 2026”, concludes the CEO.
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To find out more details about ZoomHolding, see the full episode on . The program is available in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , and
About From Zero to Top
The Do Zero ao Topo podcast is a production of InfoMoney and brings, every week, the stories of prominent women and men in the Brazilian market to tell their story, sharing the biggest challenges faced along the way and the main strategies used in building the business.
