The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2021–2025
Capim bets Brazilians will finance dental care; $26.7M Series A round
São Paulo startup Capim pairs dental-clinic software with BNPL financing, tripled revenue in 2024 and raised a $26.7M Series A round.
Capim
What the business is
An operating system for dental clinics — booking, records and management — with built-in BNPL financing that lets patients spread procedures over up to 36 installments.
Starting capital：About $29 million total: a $2.5 million seed at launch in July 2021 and a $26.7 million Series A (two tranches) co-led by Valor Capital and QED Investors, with ONEVC, Canary, NXTP, Endeavor, Saison and Actyus.
How it started
Marcelo Lutz and Roberto Biselli met during INSEAD MBAs, won the INSEAD Venture Competition in December 2020, ran a pilot in early 2021 and launched Capim in July 2021 with a $2.5M seed. Their insight: Brazil's private dental market was fragmented and analog, while most patients could not access treatment — credit cards demand a limit and allow only 6–12 installments, so expensive procedures stayed out of reach.
What happened
Capim's operating system digitizes clinics and its BNPL product lets patients pay in up to 36 installments, which the founders say carries interest rates 50% lower than traditional banks. Revenue tripled in 2024, the startup added more than 4,000 clinics, reached 6,000 dental clinics, helped 60,000+ Brazilians access procedures, and hit break-even at the end of 2024. In February 2025 it raised the $26.7M Series A in two tranches, co-led by Valor Capital and QED Investors with ONEVC, Canary, NXTP, Endeavor, Saison and Actyus; plans include a POS terminal with lower merchant fees, PIX acceptance and AI tools for clinic operations.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Capim was founded in July 2021 by Marcelo Lutz and Roberto Biselli, who met in INSEAD's MBA program, won the INSEAD Venture Competition in December 2020, ran a pilot in early 2021 and launched with a $2.5 million seed. The bet was that Brazil's dental clinics were stuck with analog operations while their patients were stuck with credit-card limits — card installments rarely stretched beyond six to twelve months, so expensive treatments simply did not happen.
Capim's answer is an operating system for dental clinics — booking, records, management and billing — with embedded buy-now-pay-later financing that lets patients pay for procedures in up to 36 installments, which the founders say carries interest rates about 50% lower than traditional banks. The financing rides inside the clinic's own software, so a dentist turns appointment demand into approved payment plans instead of turning patients away.
The model compounded quickly: revenue tripled in 2024, the startup added more than 4,000 clinics during the year, reached 6,000 dental clinics, helped more than 60,000 Brazilians access procedures, and reached break-even at the end of 2024. In February 2025 Capim raised a $26.7 million Series A in two tranches, co-led by Valor Capital and QED Investors, with ONEVC, Canary, NXTP, Endeavor, Saison and Actyus (a fund led by Creditas CEO Sergio Furio) participating, bringing total funding to about $29 million.
What has to be true
- Brazil's card market financed in 6–12 installments against a credit limit; Capim's 36-installment BNPL was a strictly better option for both the clinic and the patient.
- Embedding financing in the clinic's SaaS put the loan decision where the demand already was, instead of making patients hunt for credit elsewhere.
- Revenue tripled in 2024 and the company reached break-even before the Series A, evidence the wedge had found paying customers.
- The POS terminal and PIX acceptance extend the same financing into the clinic's payment flow, widening the moat beyond scheduling software.
What can be applied
Financing is a wedge, not the business: Capim embeds BNPL inside clinic software so the loan rides the SaaS relationship — the product creates the demand the credit product monetizes.
Aftermath
As of February 2025, Capim is scaling with 130 employees and 6,000+ dental clinics, having tripled revenue in 2024 and reached break-even. It raised $26.7 million in a Series A co-led by Valor Capital and QED Investors and is using it to launch a POS terminal with lower merchant discount rates, integrate PIX and cards into its financial module, and build AI tools for clinic operations. Valuation and hard revenue figures were not disclosed; the open question is whether the financing book stays profitable as it grows faster than the SaaS.
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