One important difference, though, was a new focus area added to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, given the corporate’s interest in industry 4.0 – industrial technology and robotics. What’s different? The thesis itself remained largely unchanged by the handover. “Nowadays, every investment that we want to bring to the table or to bring to the board, we want first to actually make sure that it can add some value, it can add some synergy with our company.” Alves worked alongside Touchdown for about six months, learning how it interacted with the committee, the information it provided, and understanding its way of doing things to make the eventual transition over to a fully Gerdau-led outfit. With this in mind, he worked to streamline the information flow, cutting out unnecessary mass and adding information more relevant to the new strategy, chiefly with how portfolio companies can fit into Gerdau’s ecosystem. Speaking from personal experience, Alves says external partners sometimes tend to provide more information than that which the company needs to make a decision. This means, in the first instance, building a good team and figuring out how to gather and deliver the same level of information that Touchdown was giving Gerdau’s investment committee. You really have to keep the good governance, you have to keep the good deliverables that we have to bring to the committee and to the board.” “When you have a good partner doing a good job, the challenge here right now is more not to let the plates fall down. The main challenge in the immediate aftermath was not to make the handover seem like a step down. “If you take a picture right now, it’s our way, it’s Gerdau’s way of doing this kind of proposition.” ![]() “From now on, it’s going to be our way,” says Alves. Since he began his role as corporate venture capital manager in April last year, the unit has made a number of investments, including seed rounds for proptech company Instacasa and e-commerce logistics company Cubbo, as well as a series C for prefabricated construction company Plant Prefab, and a follow-on round for business document management platform Docket. “The challenge here right now is more not to let the plates fall down.”Īrthur Alves, head of Gerdau Next Ventures Having multiple clients, Alves says, makes it very difficult for any third-party partners to gain an intimate understanding of any single company. “We don’t regret the partnership that we had, but it’s more about the culture that the company has, and Gerdau has its own culture.”ĭoing the work yourself means you get to leverage the internal knowledge, and lets you implement your own methodology. “ did a fantastic job, we have a good portfolio,” says Alves on an episode of the CVC Unplugged podcast. Arthur Alves, who spent 2021 at CVC consultancy Ace Cortex advising companies on their own strategy, was brought on to head up the new in-house unit. ![]() After a couple of years investing, Gerdau wanted to bring the unit back under its full control, without a middleman. Together with US-based venture firm Touchdown Ventures, it established what would become Gerdau Next Ventures, the venture arm of Gerdau’s new business division, Gerdau Next. It did what many companies new to the space do, and sought the services of an experienced, established third-party investor to help it. ![]() In 2020, Brazilian steel manufacturer Gerdau wanted to launch a new venture fund but didn’t know how. It is difficult for third-party firms with multiple clients to gain a good understanding of any single company, says head of CVC of Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau. Note: Companies that hired 3 or more graduates and/or interns are listed in bold.Why Brazil’s Gerdau chose to take back its CVC from Touchdown ![]() The Wharton School recognizes the following companies and organizations that hired at least one Wharton MBA student for full-time or internship during the 2020-2021 academic year.
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