iFood paga R$ 1 bilhão pela Caju e dobra a aposta em benefícios

iFood recently announced the acquisition of Caju, a leading Brazilian benefits startup, doubling the scale of its operation in an industry still dominated by incumbents like Alelo, Ticket, and Pluxee. The acquisition is being made by iFood Benefícios and is part of the R$ 24 billion investment package announced by iFood last month.

The companies have not disclosed the value of the deal, but a source familiar with the transaction told Brazil Journal that Caju was valued at around R$ 1 billion. Both Caju and iFood Benefícios generate approximately R$ 1.3 billion in monthly revenue each, which, assuming a 3% take rate, translates to an annual revenue of around R$ 450 million for each.

Combined, they will have 3 million users and 135,000 companies as clients. This move marks an efficient exit for Caju's founder, who raised relatively little capital to build the company and has liquidated its stack multiple times. Since Caju's founding in 2020, Eduardo and his co-founder Renan Mendes have raised only $50 million from funds such as Canary, Valor Capital Group, Caravela Capital, and K1 Investment Management.

According to Arthur Freitas, the CEO of iFood Benefícios, the deal is significant due to the complementary nature of the companies. While iFood Benefícios built its operation by leveraging the restaurant, supermarket, and consumer ecosystem of the platform, Caju created a human resources management platform. Today, Caju serves 70,000 companies and 1.3 million users.

In recent years, the startup has expanded to offer corporate expense solutions, reimbursements, advances, HR routines, and financial products like consignment credit and employee accounts. iFood sees this structure as a way to expand its relationship with HR departments without having to develop everything from scratch. Additionally, Caju's operation could benefit from iFood's ecosystem, which includes over 500,000 restaurants, 600,000 couriers, and 65 million consumers.

This consolidation comes at a time when both companies are seeking profitability. Freitas stated that iFood Benefícios has been operating at a profit on an operational basis for 2025 and this year. Meanwhile, Caju is expected to turn a profit this year. Eduardo will continue with the new company, but the command structure of the combined operation has yet to be defined.

The companies plan to disclose the integration plan after regulatory approvals. The acquisition occurs at a time of transformation in the benefits market, historically dominated by companies like Alelo, Ticket, VR, and Pluxee. For decades, these companies operated with closed networks, where employees could only use their cards at credentialed establishments, which also controlled the rates charged to restaurants and supermarkets.

This model began to be challenged by new entrants like Caju, iFood Benefícios, and Flash, who bet on cards with traditional brands and broader acceptance networks. The dispute gained new dimensions with changes to the Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador (PAT), which established a 3.6% cap on rates charged to establishments and opened up major payment arrangements, as well as interoperability between networks.

In practice, these changes reduce the competitive advantage of closed networks and pressure margins of traditional operators. However, part of these regulatory changes was established by a decree from President Lula, which could be altered by future governments without going through Congress, creating uncertainty for sector companies.

These regulatory changes still face resistance from traditional operators, who question aspects of the new rules. Eduardo expressed confidence that the regulatory environment will not regress, regardless of the government. Last year, iFood even considered acquiring Alelo, one of the sector leaders controlled by Bradesco and Banco do Brasil, a deal that could have reached R$ 5.5 billion.

When asked why iFood opted to acquire a challenger instead of one of the traditional operators, Freitas highlighted the complementary nature of the products and services. "When the decision becomes a decision by product, a decision by service, we see these two combined companies delivering all that value," he said. Lazard advised Caju. Mattos Filho and Pinheiro Neto handled the legal advice for iFood and Caju, respectively.