The fact that CESAR believed in us from the beginning was evidence of their long-term commitment to the success of TALLOS.” – Arthur Frota, CEO of TALLOS.
With the market’s ongoing digital transformation, companies need intelligent and modern solutions to optimize their processes and services. Among the various changes brought about by digitalization, the omnichannel strategy has emerged, in which organizations expand and improve channels to drive better communication with their customers.
Following this trend and recognizing the market’s needs, TALLOS was born in 2017 with the aim of better equipping companies to build their digital businesses, meet increasing online demand, and better organize and improve their customer service operations.
The TALLOS solution offers the integration of various social communication channels into a single low-code platform, composed of a rapidly and easily trainable A.I. that is capable of understanding customer satisfaction in real-time and completing the entire conversational process with consumers.
Today, TALLOS is one of the largest developers of conversational solutions in Brazil, and its journey to great success was accelerated by CESAR.
Entry into the Porto Digital Ecosystem
Founded in 2017 in Maracanaú, a Brazilian Department of Ceará, the startup faced a challenging environment for its growth due to limited access to investors, other startups, and funding. Therefore, in 2019, TALLOS expanded its horizons in search of more investment opportunities, setting its sights on the Porto Digital ecosystem in Pernambuco, the largest innovation hub in the Northeast region, of which CESAR is a founding partner.
“We started off as the largest startup in Maracanaú because there are no startups there. Our goal was to drive innovation regardless of the region’s socio-economic conditions. And we accomplished that mission by innovating in an industrial region despite a completely adverse scenario during the pandemic.” – Arthur Frota.
The Acceleration Achieved by CESAR
Our business-acceleration model is unique: we invest in the form of economic resources and provide startup companies with the necessary time, infrastructure, talent, and expertise required. In addition, CESAR provides access to partnerships with investors, thus bridging the gap to secure financial capital to further accelerate startups.
The process traditionally unfolds as follows: CESAR opens a call for applications or participates in business plan evaluation events. Upon selecting the startups, we conduct planning and diagnostics to identify the challenges they face, and evaluate potential gaps in technology, business knowledge, goal setting, and key performance indicators.
When we identify a problem, we supply in-house experts such as technical consultants and business specialists to support and resolve obstacles. We invite external mentors, including professionals working in the field and more established entrepreneurs, who will assist in understanding and addressing strategic challenges.
In the case of TALLOS, these obstacles and needs were identified:
- Integration support for setting up the TALLOS environment on Amazon Web Services (AWS);
- A better understanding of customer costs, pricing, and sales efforts;
- The need for access to technology and business advisors;
Following this evaluation phase, we began implementing a macrocycle, a period in which CESAR assists to speed up startups’ evolution, increase their value, and enable more rapid growth. The primary outcome of this initial phase of acceleration is preparing the company to enter the market.
During this period, most of the TALLOS’ team remained in Ceará and was remotely supported by CESAR, while its founders made strategic visits to Recife, where CESAR is headquartered, to gain more visibility, acquire knowledge, and establish connections.
The Value of Intellectual Capital
Throughout the acceleration process, CESAR conducted workshops and training sessions that covered TALLOS’ entire business process, to provide support in defining crucial strategies, and to model the pre-sales and sales process, cost analysis, valuation, and venture capital requirements. In addition to the content taught, a significant highlight of this phase was the facilitation of networking through connections with other companies via customers that are part of the CESAR network.
In addition, CESAR helped alleviate technical challenges faced by the TALLOS development team, mostly due to the number of novice vs. experienced programmers on staff at the time who needed expert guidance. Therefore, the startup benefited from technical mentorship in building the solution, which was primarily focused on migrating the platform to Amazon Cloud (AWS).
This technical support was instrumental in allowing the startup to develop its architecture and technological infrastructure more efficiently, because TALLOS could rely on CESAR’s expertise for more informed and cost-effective decision-making.
“The partnership with CESAR was highly strategic. Without their investment, we wouldn’t be telling this story. The connection to their ecosystem helped us see a world of possibilities, both in terms of technologies and innovation, in what was being done and built. This was inspiring for us. Having CESAR’s support helped us realize that we could build something significant, and this multifaceted collaboration made a lot of sense and enabled us to create the largest conversational company in the country.” – Arthur Frota.
A Journey Marked by Significant Achievements
After the period of acceleration led by CESAR, TALLOS embarked on a path of significant accomplishments. The startup closed 2019 by doing more with less, having achieved both operational and cost efficiency, which resulted in a positive balance. TALLOS used only half of its working capital during its acceleration period.
Once accelerated by the largest innovation hub in the Northeast region, TALLOS achieved a milestone by being selected to be part of CUBO, with the largest startup hub in Latin America, a venture of Itaú. In 2022, the startup became a part of Scale-Up Endeavor, an acceleration program for mid-stage startups with the highest growth potential in Brazil.
And the success didn’t stop there. With the aim of reaching the top of the conversation market in Brazil and internationalizing its operation, TALLOS was acquired by RD Station, a TOTVS company and one of the largest digital platforms in the world. The startup’s exit marks an impressive achievement: to be acquired within only three years, with the acquisition agreement even including an additional purchase price based on a new future valuation.
Today, TALLOS stands alongside the largest scaled-up technology companies in Latin America, ready to make more history. Arthur Frota emphasizes that the startup’s founders maintain their autonomy within RD, and the acquisition was structured in a way that the buyer will accelerate and grow the business alongside TALLOS.
“More than the exit, I take pride in the people we impact on a daily basis. These are individuals who benefit from our innovation to grow, profit, and develop. The best part of entrepreneurship is positively impacting society. Today, TALLOS inspires other businesses.” – Arthur Frota.