The mergers and acquisitions market in Brazil has been showing a dynamic that could be called reverse disruption. If, before, startups emerged to challenge traditional companies in sectors like banking, health, and retail, we now see the opposite – established corporations buying or investing in digital businesses created to challenge them.
From January to May 2025, mergers and acquisitions in Brazil increased by 15% compared to the same period last year. Data from PwC Brazil tracked 596 transactions in this period, highlighting the growing appetite of large companies for technological and innovative assets.
Banks threatened by fintechs, hospitals pressured by the rise of telemedicine, and retailers confronted by the growth of e-commerce are now turning to acquisitions to react and reinvent themselves. The example of Santander, for instance, investing in a55, reinforces the bank’s strategy of supporting innovation in financial services by backing a fintech that provides credit to small and medium-sized enterprises using their revenues as collateral. By acquiring stakes in emerging players, banks not only ensure access to technology and digital reach but also neutralize potential threats before they become too large.
In healthcare, this movement accelerated due to the pandemic. Traditional groups, historically defined by physical structures, began acquiring telemedicine startups and digital remote care solutions. This was a quick way to incorporate capabilities that would be difficult to develop internally at the same speed. At the same time, such acquisitions raise questions about whether they can preserve the agility typical of a healthtech while operating within the rigid governance of companies based on physical infrastructure.
The retail sector also strongly embraced this trend. Brazilian e-commerce generated over $36 billion in revenue in 2024, with growth exceeding 10%, driven by personalization through Artificial Intelligence, which increased sales and loyalty, supported by Machine Learning and Big Data that enable predictive analysis of consumer behavior. For 2025, ABComm forecasts revenue surpassing $43 billion, a 15% increase, with an average ticket of $100 and three million new buyers.
In this environment, companies like Magazine Luiza, which acquired Logbee to expand its logistics capacity, and Lojas Renner, which bought the urban logistics startup Uello, demonstrate that integrating the new before replacing the old is a matter of survival.
However, many times there is a risk of losing key talent, diluting the agile culture, and turning the disruptive initiative into just another corporate process. There is also a rarely discussed generational issue. Do representatives of Generations Y and Z, used to an accelerated digital pace and values rooted in flexibility and purpose, really have the ability to lead post-acquisition integration or influence Generation X executives, who have decades of experience and a more pragmatic management style?
Deloitte’s 14th edition global research found that 89% of Generation Z professionals and 92% of millennials consider a sense of purpose essential to their job satisfaction and well-being. This data explains why many startups are born with purpose and culture at the core of their strategy, and also why clashes with traditional structures are inevitable.
These examples show that the old economy is not just reacting but trying to reinvent itself through acquiring the new. The key question remains: to what extent do these acquisitions preserve startups’ innovative spirit? Often, the risk is that cultural clash will turn the digital promise into just another corporate cog. In other cases, combining tradition and innovation can create a multiplier effect, spreading new practices throughout the organization.
More than EBITDA multiples or financial synergies, this reverse disruption movement reveals that the most important businesses of the future will be judged by their ability to reconcile opposing cultures. Startups sell not just technology but a way of thinking. Corporations buy not just businesses but a promise of reinvention. The challenge is simple to state but hard to carry out: whether the buyer is truly prepared not to kill what motivated them to buy.
