Vivo has just purchased Vale Saúde Semper, a startup that offers a subscription with benefits such as discounts on appointments and exams and that will boost the telecom operator’s digital ecosystem strategy.
“We have a huge fish tank to fish in B2C, as well as an opportunity to offer subscriptions to SMEs, for companies with five, ten, twenty employees who are unable to offer a health plan for them,” Rodrigo Gruner, Vivo’s director of innovation and new business, told Brazil Journal.
Vivo has more than 60 million customers, and a relevant part is within the startup’s addressable market.
The transaction may reach R$ 60 million considering the earnoutswhich depend on the achievement of certain goals.
Vivo had been a Vale Saúde customer since the middle of last year. Through a service white label, Vivo manages to offer the subscription to its customers using its own brand, Vida V. Behind the brand is the accredited network and systems of Vale Saúde.
The subscription costs from BRL 14.90 per month and allows the client to take exams and consultations in partner networks with significantly lower prices, in addition to giving discounts on the purchase of medication.
“Over the last few months we’ve tested their product to be more secure for a move like this,” said Gruner.
Vale Saúde focuses on the stratum of the population that does not have access to private health plans but is able to pay a monthly subscription in this price range – a cut that includes more than 100 million Brazilians, according to Gruner.
Founded in 2011 by Eduardo Brigagão, the startup has 250 thousand paying users – a number that includes both customers who subscribe directly to the service and customers of companies that use the service. white labelas was the case with Vivo.
The purchase of Vale Saúde is part of a broader strategy by CEO Christian Gebara to diversify Vivo’s revenue beyond the core business – a path that many telcos have followed around the world.
For this, Vivo created what it calls a ‘digital ecosystem’, a series of solutions and products that it sells to customers.
In B2B, this ecosystem has already generated relevant revenue. Last year, the sale of solutions such as cloudsoftware licenses and technology equipment for companies generated revenue of R$ 2.7 billion for Vivo out of a total of R$ 48 billion.
In B2C, Vivo does not disclose revenue, but the business is still very small. There are five verticals: entertainmentwith the sale of subscriptions to streamingfor example; educationthrough a joint venture with Ânima Educação; financial servicesoffering a wallet and credit products; smart House; and now, health.
“These deals haven’t moved yet,” said Gruner. “But it is a medium and long term vision. In two or three years, we expect that these verticals together will already start to make a difference in the top line.”
In addition to the verticals in which it already operates, Vivo is analyzing entering other segments.
The most immediate is the energy sector, where the company sees a huge opportunity with the opening of the free market for individual consumers.
Peter Arbex
