Para a Applause, cada venda é uma missão de videogame

Applause, a startup founded by Eduardo Rodrigues, believes that selling is essentially a video game mission. The platform created by Rodrigues transforms business goals into a series of challenges. Vendors can earn points for selling specific products, offering extended warranties, visiting clients, filling CRM, or securing better shelf space for a brand in a supermarket aisle.

Each completed mission earns points that can be exchanged for Uber and iFood credits, electronics, meals, trips, and other products or experiences. Rodrigues likens the company to "Duolingo for sales," aiming to create small high-performance behaviors and turn them into habits to boost team productivity. MadeiraMadeira, a retailer with 60 stores, began using the platform at 10 locations, setting challenges such as increasing sales of own-brand products, offering more extended warranties, and collecting Google reviews.

For every R$1 spent on incentives, MadeiraMadeira saw R$13 in return. The average ticket for own-brand products grew 8%, while extended warranty sales increased 124%. As a result, the company rolled out the platform to all its stores, transforming the client-provider relationship into a social one. MadeiraMadeira's founders are participating in a new R$10 million round led by Primus Ventures, alongside investors from Pipefy and American venture capital firms.

The company has also shown results in other cases, including Grupo Rojemac, which saw revenue grow 180% three months after adopting the platform, and Ferrero's Brazilian subsidiary, which uses the tool for about 15,000 sellers across hundreds of distributors. Adidas also uses Applause in multi-brand retailer campaigns. The platform has about 80 clients, including Carrefour, Mondelez, iFood, Cielo, and PremierPet, for a total of about 80,000 users.

Originally founded during the pandemic as a benefits and experiences platform for employees, Applause realized that it could link these rewards to commercial team productivity, pivoting to its current model. The company now operates as a SaaS, with companies paying based on the number of users using the platform, while money spent on campaigns is fully converted into benefits power for employees.

With 23 employees, Applause has generated R$7 million in recurring annual revenue, growing 25 times in the past 19 months. Its goal is to reach about R$20 million in ARR by the end of 2027, and then raise a Series A. About 85% of the new investment will be used for growth and international expansion. Other Pipefy uses the platform internationally, and Logcomex adopted the product in Mexico.

Applause's other bet is AI, with the creation of Applause Vision, an image recognition technology that turns, for example, shelf photos into data on price, stock, brand participation, and product positioning. The same AI can verify mission completion and release points automatically. The startup aims to understand each seller better and create a personalized journey for each person. The CEO notes that each individual will have an increasingly personalized journey.