Scanntech, the Uruguayan company that captures supermarket and retail sales in real time to convert them into commercial data, closed a US$180 million round led by the US fund L Catterton, with the participation of Partners Group and Bradesco.
The agreement was signed on October 8, after almost a year of negotiations, and combines new capital for the company with the sale of shares of current partners in a proportion close to half and half. JP Morgan acted as financial advisor to Scanntech in the transaction.
The transaction takes as a reference a valuation of about 5.5 times the company’s annual income and would leave new investors with about 30% of the capital. Warburg Pincus, which had invested US$40 million in Scanntech in January 2023, sells part of its stake and remains a shareholder, betting on continuing to take advantage of the company’s growth.
Hindiana, Alfredo Villela’s investment vehicle, is also still in the capital. During the process, funds such as General Atlantic, GIC and Advent also approached.
From the cash registers of Uruguayan warehouses to the data of Latin American retail
Scanntech was born in 1992 when Raúl Polakof, Benny Szylkowski and Soledad Fernández developed software that allowed computers to be used as cash registers in small businesses. From this technology they built a network that enabled stores to offer financial services and promotions, something until then reserved for large chains.
In 2011, Sequoia Capital chose Scanntech for its first investment in Latin America, with US$10 million; he invested again in 2014 and later sold his stake. Raúl Polakof, who studied computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, will continue to lead the company.
Today Scanntech processes more than US$200 billion a year in retail sales. Its technology captures transactions recorded at supermarket checkouts and converts them into sell-out data, which food, beverage and hygiene product manufacturers, and supermarkets themselves, use to monitor prices, volumes, market share and promotional results.
Brazil, where it arrived in 2013, is its main market, and the company is growing at a rate close to 30% annually.
International expansion as a destination of funds
Part of the capital raised will be used for the company’s geographic expansion. Scanntech already operates in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, and plans to enter new markets starting in 2027, both inside and outside Latin America.
In August, the Gulf service station chain integrated Scanntech technology in a pilot in five of its more than 100 stations in Argentina, a sign that the company is also moving towards new verticals beyond mass consumption retail.
The round draws attention in the current context, with few IPOs and difficulties in carrying out divestments in technology.
In the case of Scanntech, the combination of sustained growth and profitability, added to the possibility of a strategic sale or an IPO in the future, was decisive in attracting investors of the caliber of L Catterton and Partners Group.
