Submarino
Pioneering Brazilian e-commerce platform for multi-category goods.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
$71.3m | Series B | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Submarino was a pioneering Brazilian e-commerce company founded in 1999 by Antonio Bonchristiano, Marcelo Ballona, and Flávio Jansen. Starting with an initial investment from GP Investimentos, the company, originally named TBL S.A., acquired the online bookstore Booknet and rebranded it as Submarino. The name was chosen to reflect the vast and diverse product selection they aimed to offer, similar to the ocean's immensity. The platform quickly expanded beyond books to include electronics, games, music, movies, and home appliances, becoming a benchmark for technology and geek culture products.
The company experienced rapid growth, reaching over a million customers and a revenue of R$211 million by 2003. In 2005, Submarino went public with an IPO. A significant turning point occurred in 2006 when Submarino merged with Americanas.com to form a new company, B2W Companhia Global do Varejo (later B2W Digital), a major move to consolidate their position in Brazilian e-commerce. Lojas Americanas held a majority stake in the new entity. B2W continued to expand, acquiring brands like Shoptime and the online license for Blockbuster Brazil. In 2021, B2W was fully incorporated into its parent company, Lojas Americanas, to integrate physical and digital operations, with the new combined entity named Americanas S.A.
The business model was primarily online retail, serving a broad consumer market in Brazil. Submarino focused on providing a wide array of products, detailed information, and promotions like coupons and cashback. In a late-stage strategic shift in 2022, the brand experimented with physical retail by opening franchised kiosks, starting with a location in São Paulo. However, in 2024, as part of a broader restructuring following a financial crisis at the parent company, Americanas S.A. announced it would be integrating the Submarino and Shoptime websites and apps into the main Americanas brand, effectively discontinuing the Submarino brand as a separate entity to create a more agile and efficient operation.
Keywords: e-commerce, online retail, Brazil, marketplace, consumer electronics, books, games, home appliances, B2W Digital, Americanas, online shopping, geek culture, digital retail, technology products, Brazilian market, online bookstore, multi-category retail, internet retail, Flávio Jansen, Antonio Bonchristiano