Cloudwalk Founder talks about the end of small machines

If Luis Silva started telling the beginning of his own story at a party to a group of strangers, it might be difficult to believe right away that he is the founder of a Brazilian unicorn . But you just need to listen more carefully to understand that the trajectory of the humble boy from Franca (SP), who learned to program alone out of pure fear of leaving home, was the fuel for the creation of Cloudwalk, whose premise is to expand access to services financial, through technologies such as the one that announces the end of small machines.

Soon after starting to work, without going to college due to lack of financial means, Silva received the proposal to become a partner in the software house Plano Bê, in 2005. Since then, he has experienced high points, including the success of the business, which made him a millionaire. before the age of 30, and the subsequent sale of the company. But he also faced challenges, such as navigating the business world on the autism spectrum, burnout and the failure of Arcturus Biocloud, a genetic engineering startup he founded in the United States.

After going bankrupt abroad, Silva returned to Brazil in 2016 and took the reins of Clouldwalk, a company he helped found, but until then he was involved as an investor. Cut to 2023 and the company, which raised more than $360 million from funds such as Coatue, DST and Light Capital, is worth $2.15 billion and serves 1 million entrepreneurs and consumers in 5,400 cities across Brazil. Today (11), the startup announced its balance sheet for the first half of the year with net revenue of R$310.4 million, a growth of 145% compared to the same period in 2022. Net profit reached R$64 million, in a a time when many startups are struggling to survive.

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New beginnings
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The positive result reflects the high adoption of InfiniteTap, a solution that transforms smartphones into machines: according to the company, the customer base using “tap to pay” technology grew by an average of 123% per month in 2023. The payments product is abre -wings to the various fronts of the company's financial services platform, such as InfiniteCash, which has already distributed R$260 million in loans and has the goal of ending 2023 with R$380 million.

“Our goal has always been to democratize access to payments at a fair price, as we knew it would be the gateway to our financial services ecosystem. [The thesis is:] once the customer buys the machine, he starts using the digital bank account service and also our loan”, says Silva, in an interview with this column.

Although Cloudwalk has a fleet of machines that already exceeds half a million units and has gained popularity among merchants for offering below-market advance rates – thanks to the use of blockchain and machine learning, which contribute to mitigating the risk of fraud, for example – the company’s current favorite is InfiniteTap. The company estimates that its customers will have saved more than R$580 million by not buying machines in the space of a year since the launch of the technology that transforms the cell phone into a payment terminal, in November last year.

Combined with the digital banking portfolio for small and medium-sized companies, the technology positions the company as an attractive alternative to competitors such as PagSeguro and Nubank – which invest heavily in TV campaigns, while Cloudwalk bets on digital marketing and word of mouth in niche audiences.

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“Just like digital cameras, small machines will dematerialize and everything will stay inside the smartphone. For me, this is the great revolution in the industry”

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The positive result reflects the high adoption of InfiniteTap, a solution that transforms smartphones into machines: according to the company, the customer base using “tap to pay” technology grew by an average of 123% per month in 2023. The payments product is abre -wings to the various fronts of the company's financial services platform, such as InfiniteCash, which has already distributed R$260 million in loans and has the goal of ending 2023 with R$380 million.

“Our goal has always been to democratize access to payments at a fair price, as we knew it would be the gateway to our financial services ecosystem. [The thesis is:] once the customer buys the machine, he starts using the digital bank account service and also our loan”, says Silva, in an interview with this column.

Although Cloudwalk has a fleet of machines that already exceeds half a million units and has gained popularity among merchants for offering below-market advance rates – thanks to the use of blockchain and machine learning, which contribute to mitigating the risk of fraud, for example – the company’s current favorite is InfiniteTap. The company estimates that its customers will have saved more than R$580 million by not buying machines in the space of a year since the launch of the technology that transforms the cell phone into a payment terminal, in November last year.

Combined with the digital banking portfolio for small and medium-sized companies, the technology positions the company as an attractive alternative to competitors such as PagSeguro and Nubank – which invest heavily in TV campaigns, while Cloudwalk bets on digital marketing and word of mouth in niche audiences.