Betting on Tech, Gunderson Dettmer Opens New Brazil Office

Silicon Valley law firm Gunderson Dettmer is opening a new office in São Paulo, Brazil to capitalize on the region’s budding technology scene.

The move has “been a long time coming,” said Gunderson partner Brian Hutchings, a founding corporate partner in the new office, alongside Gunderson partners Adan Muller and Christel Moreno. The firm has been representing clients in Brazil and across Latin America since 2006.

“As our business has grown over that period of time, it’s become increasingly important to be available to clients in their own location on a daily basis,” Hutchings said in an interview. “It helps us to stay abreast of changes in trends in the markets, meet a greater number of promising entrepreneurs and investors and facilitate connections among them.”

Hutchings and Muller plan to split their time between New York and Brazil. Moreno, along with three other partner and several associates, will be based full-time in São Paulo.

Mergers and acquisitions activity in Latin America has reached $77.4 billion so far in 2022, with Brazil accounting for more than $50 billion of those deals, according to Bloomberg data.

Gunderson Dettmer has represented Latin America-based companies in more than $3.8 billion in M&A transactions since 2014. The firm advised on Didi’s acquisition of Brazilian e-haling app 99 Taxis in 2018, as well as the acquisition of online real estate marketplace Vivareal by OLX Brasil two years later. Gunderson lawyers worked on Etsy’s acquisition of Elo7 and the acquisition of Neoway by B3 last year.

The firm also recently represented banking software manufacturer Technisys in its $1.1 billion sale to SoFi Technologies earlier this year.

Brazil and Latin America’s technology sector is still young compared to the US, but is continuing to grow.

Brazil alone is home to more than 200 million people. Startup activity and demand for tech is on the rise there are in other large markets across the region, according to Hutchings.

“The amount of capital that’s available and venture capital in particular, that’s available for technology companies, has steadily grown and continues to grow,” he said. “We see that through our fund formation practice and the funds being raised for Latin America specifically, as well as representing some of our traditional US funds that have earmarked a portion of their capital for investments in the region.”

“We have built strong relationships with leading venture capital firms investing in the region and they trust our judgment,” said Gunderson’s Moreno in a statement. “Our opening an office here shows our deep confidence that innovation will continue to be a driver of the Latin America economy for many years to come,” she said.