An internet provider in Pará was a benchmark in its region: 100 thousand loyal subscribers, a quality fiber-optic network, customer satisfaction above the sector average and governance being put in place. But the telecom market was consolidating fast, and to avoid being swallowed by large carriers or well-capitalized competitors, the company needed to double in size.

It had the engine ready and a clear runway. What was missing was fuel.

The challenge

Growing in telecom takes a lot of capital. Reaching 200 thousand subscribers required investment in network, equipment and customer acquisition beyond what the company generated in cash, and traditional bank credit lines were already used up. Without a R$ 100 million investment, the company risked losing strategic markets to competitors advancing with neutral networks and aggressive acquisitions.

Inertia had growing costs. Funds and large groups were buying providers around its area. The structure built to grow generated fixed costs without the expected return. Short-term loans drained operating profit. And leaders were starting to be courted by companies with bigger projects.

The moment to act became clear for three reasons. Neighboring providers were being bought at high multiples, and its natural expansion territories would be taken in less than 12 months. The network had reached a point where growing required a new backbone: with day-to-day cash, that would take 5 years; with the investment, 18 months. And bank interest rates were rising while the collateral required was already at its limit.

How Vispe worked

To attract an investment of this size, the provider had to become an institutional investment platform.

The first step was governance. Before approaching any investor, the company implemented audit processes, organized compliance and structured its numbers, such as EBITDA, churn and average revenue per user, transparently. The data was spread across different systems and non-auditable spreadsheets, and accounting revenue didn't match the ERP. A deep cleanup and data reconciliation had to be done in record time.

The second was the growth thesis. Vispe presented a detailed expansion plan showing what it costs to win a customer and how long that customer takes to pay back. Using geographic data analysis, cross-referencing demographics, per capita income and competition in each city, it was possible to show where the money would go and how many months each city would take to break even. The network was also presented as an infrastructure asset with high barriers to entry, not just as an expansion expense, which changed the investor's risk perception and raised the valuation.

The third was choosing the investor. The search focused on private equity funds with an infrastructure and telecom thesis, so-called "smart money." Before opening its data to the market, Vispe ran a mirror audit, simulating the toughest questions a large fund would ask and fixing compliance and tax gaps in advance.

There was tension along the way. The founders initially resisted governance clauses, such as creating a board of directors and external audits, fearing they would lose agility. And the economic scenario turned more conservative during the project, which required balancing the partners' expectations with the price the investor was willing to pay.

The results

  • Amount raised: R$ 100 million.
  • Customer base: from 100 thousand to 200 thousand subscribers.
  • Cost of debt: from CDI + 8% to 10% a year to CDI + 2.5% to 3.5%, a reduction of 5 to 6 percentage points.
  • Debt term: from 12 to 24 months to 5 to 7 years, with a 12- to 18-month grace period on principal.

The investment went into new fiber-optic networks, the acquisition of providers in neighboring regions, upgrading the network core and working capital to speed up customer acquisition.

The company also reached a new institutional level: it now operates with a board of directors and regular audits, the founders reduced their personal exposure to risk and the brand began attracting better professionals and partners.

What changed

The provider went from acquisition target to a leader of consolidation in its region. The main problem, the capital barrier, was replaced by the challenge of execution. Today, the company has the financial muscle to lead its region and a growth thesis that puts it on the radar of the country's largest telecom players.