‘We received an investment this year. The idea was to make sure we could expand towards the US and become a global company. We had two main objectives. One was to get into the U.S. market as a global company and establish ourselves here. … And we realized that we needed to establish ourselves as number one going forward,’ says Indicium CEO Matheus Dellagnelo.

Making A Move On The U.S. Data Services Market

Indicium, a provider of data services based in Sao Paulo and Florianopolis, Brazil, in May said it raised a new $40-million round of funding aimed at helping it expand its business in the U.S.

For Indicium, the funding is an opportunity to transform a very successful Brazilian business into a global business, said Matheus Dellagnelo, the company’s CEO and co-founder. The company already has a New York office and is rapidly hiring sales, marketing and engineering talent in the country, Dellagnelo told CRN.

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Indicium had two main objectives in getting the new investment, Dellagnelo said.

“One was to get into the U.S. market as a global company and establish ourselves here,” he said. “And the other was, right now we are the number-one modern data stack company, which is our modern approach of working with data. We have been doing this for the past seven years. And we realized that we needed to establish ourselves as number one going forward. We also have a major opportunity to come to the U.S. market and establish ourselves over here.”

Dellagnelo said that his company provides a solid alternative to outsourcing firms based in India and elsewhere, which may be the right choice when writing software but not necessarily right when working with a company’s data.

“When you hire someone to work on your data, they have to understand your business rules, how you work, how the business operates, and how to connect to you,” he said. “They need to understand your culture, and so on. When we’re talking about data, having the same time zone, the same culture, and people who understand how business works is important. We bring to the table the fact that we are pretty much on the same time zone—it’s one hour difference from the east coast—and we have a culture that’s more aligned to the U.S. than India or the other countries have.

There’s a lot going on at Indicium. For a look at the company’s land-and-expand strategy for the U.S., read the full Q&A with Dellagnelo, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

How do you define Indicium?

We are a data service company. Everything that a company needs in terms of data, we provide services for it. We work on projects, we provide training and consulting, you name it. So whatever a company needs, we can provide data services for it.

How long has Indicium had an office in the US?

We have been working in the U.S. for the past three to four years already. But we were doing all the services and processes in Brazil. A month ago, we got an office in New York and are establishing a team here.

Tell us about the investment Indicium recently picked up.

We received an investment this year. The idea was to make sure we could expand towards the US and become a global company. We had two main objectives. One was to get into the U.S. market as a global company and establish ourselves here. And the other was, right now we are the number-one modern data stack company, which is our modern approach of working with data. We have been doing this for the past seven years. And we realized that we needed to establish ourselves as number one going forward. We also have a major opportunity to come to the U.S. market and establish ourselves over here. We needed to invest to focus on those two main objectives. So that’s why we opened our U.S. office and are getting people, establishing a team, and making sure that we become a global company.

But why the need to invest in the U.S.? Couldn’t you do it either remotely or through partnerships?

That’s a good point. The first reason is what we provide in terms of services is what the U.S. markets are looking for. The modern data stack, the modern approach to working with data, is pretty much what most companies in the U.S. are looking for. We provide this service in a very high-quality way. And we have been working with U.S. companies for the past three or four years. We got the sense that, okay, we provide a better service. Up to now, we have been selling through Brazil as a Brazilian company. But we have good talent. We have good quality. We know exactly what the companies here are looking for. So it’s important to establish ourselves in the U.S. and be able to get into this new market in a more solid way. That’s why we came here. We have a strong case in terms of quantity. We have a strong training capability back in Brazil as well. So we have a scalable service company that we can just keep growing with the same kind of standards and quality and methodologies that we have been providing.

We know what the market’s looking for. We know we can provide it. And that’s what we’re here for, to show that and to become a global company providing services.

Does Indicium currently have U.S.-based customers?

Yes, we have had clients here for the past four years already.

And how did you work with them prior to opening your U.S. office?

Everything was based in Brazil. The sales team, the sales process, the delivery, everything. We came to the U.S. a few times to visit customers [to handle] some details of the projects. But most of the work was done by the Brazilian operation. The difference now is we started the year with U.S.-based professionals and sales teams. We started becoming a global company, not just a Brazilian company. To the last four years we engaged through the Brazilian operation, and now we’re engaging through our US operation.

You have mentioned the modern data stack a couple times. What do you provide as part of that?

It’s basically the methodology of how we deliver data services. What happened is, every single company is trying to leverage data. And now GenAI has come along, making that even more true. Starting a few years back in 2019, new data tools came along that changed the way most people approach their projects. These new tools and processes became this new methodology we call the modern data stack. We started doing that in 2019 with some US companies as well who became specialized in these methodologies. Moving forward a bit, by 2023 or 2024, that was the main strategy that most companies were using to migrate their platform or to create their own platform. We were in the right place at the right time. We have been doing this kind of work with big names, big logos, for so many years. And now that the market is ready to move fully towards this modern approach, we are ready. We have the experience with very well-trained professionals.

In addition to expanding in the U.S., what are some of your other strategic priorities for the rest of 2024?

For 2024, establishing the company in the U.S., selling here and expanding our market presence in the US, that’s one of our main targets. The other one is consolidating ourselves as the number one player in LatAm [Latin America]. To be number one, we have invested quite a lot in events, marketing, and making sure that when companies in LatAm, including major enterprises, are looking to modernize their own data structures, they come to us. To accomplish both objectives, we are investing a lot into our training capabilities and making sure we have the right talent ready for those new endeavors.

With your focus on the modern data stack, has Indicium invested in developing AI capabilities internally?

Yes, for sure. Since the beginning, we have been working with AI and machine learning models, so that’s part of what we do. We create data platforms from scratch, and we migrate, modernize, or create data products for our clients which might be dashboards for AI or machine learning AI and GenAI. To answer your question, we have been doing AI and machine learning since day one, pretty much for seven years, and integrating with the data platforms that we can create as well. And in the last year, we started using GenAI internally for our projects. The way we operate has changed because of it. Also, we have been doing a lot of work based on this modern platform which can leverage way more AI and GenAI. We’re doing a lot of work for our clients with that as well. So we can say that we specialize in the structure of making sure that a company has what it takes to use AI. And we have been using GenAI to speed up our processes.

Most American companies thinking about working with global service providers think about India. How does Indicium complement or compete with what American companies might expect if they work with an Indian company?

I think in terms of data, things are different for most companies. When they look to oversees work for things like creating software, it’s one thing. But when you hire someone to work on your data, they have to understand your business rules, how you work, how the business operates, and how to connect to you. They need to understand your culture, and so on. When we’re talking about data, having the same time zone, the same culture, and people who understand how business works is important. We bring to the table the fact that we are pretty much on the same time zone—it’s one hour difference from the east coast—and we have a culture that’s more aligned to the U.S. than India or the other countries have. And most of our employees have spent time in the U.S. and lived in the U.S. for a long time. We have the language, the time zone, the culture. And we know pretty much the same kinds of companies operate in Brazil and the U.S. We know how the companies operate. We’re bringing that business knowledge to the table.

[Furthermore], what we are doing in terms of modern data stacks, we are very advanced. There’s no one doing anything that’s more modern than what we are doing. That’s why we’re bringing in U.S. professionals as well and mixing it with the talent that we have to provide a high-end data service for our clients.

Did you say most of your employees have spent time in the U.S.?

Yes.

How many employees does Indicium have?

We have 250 employees. And most of our employees are able to speak English, and most of them have spent time in the U.S., including in exchange programs and as undergrad and graduate students. They usually have at least one year over here. So they have experienced the culture and language and so on.

Is Indicium hiring in the U.S.? What are you looking for in the U.S. in terms of hires you want to make here?

We are pretty much hiring across the board. We have started with sales and marketing, but we are moving towards the delivery side as well: managers, engineers, data scientists, and so on. So it’s across the board what we are hiring in the U.S. as part of our expansion.