Merchant-Backed Brainvest Expands network with Köli Family Office Partnership

Minority Investment to enhance network in Rio de Janeiro and collaboration across investment strategies

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 26th, 2024—Recognizing the opportunity to expand its network and ecosystem in Brazil, Brainvest secured a minority stake in Köli Capital, a wealth manager with an AUM of R$500 million headquartered in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. Köli Capital offers investment solutions for high-income families and entrepreneurs.

Köli accepted a durable and long-term minority investment from Brainvest, linked to strategic involvement in the company's expansion process, in addition to benefiting from the ecosystem of their global partner, Merchant Investment Management.

“The Brainvest team, along with the Merchant partnership, brings a new level of expertise to Köli Capital that enhances our capabilities to be the go-to partner for sophisticated clients and the advisors and teams that serve them. Brainvest will greatly expand our offering of value-added services and strategies, in addition to assisting in Köli’s expansion and new business process”, says Matheus Bonifácio, founding partner of Köli Capital.

Founded in 2016 as an SFO, Köli Capital originated from a need for the company's partners to consolidate their assets and manage their investments globally. The company gained notoriety for its excellence in wealth management in the city of Niteroi, expanding its operations to clients based in Rio de Janeiro. Köli's main management resources come from two families in the retail and technology sector, which helped develop strong private credit and venture capital expertise.

Tim Bello, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Merchant, stated, “Our collaboration with Brainvest has enabled us to establish a premier consortium of wealth management professionals and multi-family offices who are aligned to achieve our cross-border objectives. Brainvest continues to be a great partner within the Merchant ecosystem, and we're excited to further our partnership with Köli to advance their enterprise.”

Founded in 2003, Brainvest has led the way for nearly two decades with a wealth management offering and full-service family office experience tailored to the specialized needs of families who span continents, generations, and cultures. Brainvest offers institutional solutions for private clients from their offices in Geneva, Zurich, Miami, São Paulo, Campinas, and Rio de Janeiro. In addition to its liquid and illiquid wealth offering, Brainvest also offers trust services for estate and family succession planning.

Matheus Bonifácio, founding partner of Köli Capital, sees the expansion of the business in geography, type of client and value proposition. “The strategic partnership with Brainvest is a natural evolution for Köli to further enhance our product offering and solutions to sophisticated clients. The partnership fits exactly with the strategic objectives outlined by Köli, which are to remain completely independent, but having global support and high expertise with Brainvest and Merchant to bring best-in-class solutions to its clients.”

Matheus began his career over 15 years ago focused on private credit and venture capital investments for his single-family office. In 2022, Köli underwent several structural changes, transforming itself into a full service MFO.

“Over the last few years, Köli has been collaborating informally with Brainvest and it was a very natural step to formalize the partnership. Brainvest fits very well with our strategy and team – its experience, global approach to establishing long- term partnerships with clients, with a deep understanding of all the needs of increasingly sophisticated clients,” said Bonifácio. “Their support will be invaluable as Köli moves into the next phase of growth”.

The partnership with Köli is a natural evolution of Brainvest’s strategy in Brazil. After securing its minority partnership with the Merchant in late 2021, Brainvest has consistently executed its strategic plan to offer its clients the best-in-class investment and family office solutions.

“Brainvest’s DNA from our origins in 2003 is a collaborative culture in all facets. This includes our diverse partnership, our global structure (Switzerland, US, and Brazil) and how we promote connections among our clients and partners. Partnering with Köli through a minority investment gives full alignment to work hand-in hand with Köli to offer the best services and strategies to their clients,” says Fernando Gelman, Global CEO of Brainvest.

Alexander Gorra – Managing Partner of Brainvest – We are proud to create a leading independent network of wealth managers in Brazil. We are uniquely positioned to collaborate with strong players like Köli Capital to offer the entire Brainvest and Merchant offering to all their clients with full alignment of interests.

Jan Karsten - “We’ve become very close with the Köli team, and we will work even closer to enhance the offering and bring the best partners and advisors to the team,” Jan said. “The Köli team brings a new degree of expertise given their single-family office origins and continued presence in the real economy”.

About Köli Capital

Founded in 2016, Köli Capital is a multi-family office located in Rio de Janeiro, which currently has approximately R$500 million under management. Köli seeks to offer its clients impartial management, focused on wealth preservation, and aligned with the interests of clients and partners. Despite being young, the company has been standing out in the WM segment, providing a differentiated service, closer to the customer, understanding the needs of families beyond investments.

About Brainvest

Brainvest, founded in 2003, is a full-service multi-family office and investment firm managing $5 billion USD in assets for families and entrepreneurs. Brainvest has a presence in the U.S., Switzerland, and Brazil, serving both international and U.S. clients.

Brainvest provides global and independent solutions in areas including Investment Management (liquid and private assets), Succession Planning, Estate/Financial Planning, Consolidation Systems, Risk Management, and Tax and Offshore Entity Management. In addition, to meet our clients’ needs, Brainvest also provides concierge and family governance solutions to ensure a complete bespoke solution.

Though its ACM (Alternative Capital Management) division, Brainvest has invested significantly in private assets for over 12 years, managing over $2.0 billion USD in real estate, private credit and PE and VC investments. Brainvest has a dedicated private asset team on three continents to originate, structuring, manage and oversee with governance all investments.

About Merchant

Merchant is a private partnership providing growth capital, management resources, strategic opportunities and direction to independent financial services companies, particularly those focused on wealth and asset management. Merchant’s ecosystem comprises 85+ partner firms & RIA practices in six countries, collectively managing more than $150 billion in assets as of the end of 2023. For additional information, please visit merchantim.com.

Press contact | Merchant

Ann Marie Gorden | 267-249-07765 | annmarie@merchantim.com