Tripolis Solutions — Full market entry strategy for a Dutch SaaS company expanding into Brazil

The Challenge

Tripolis Solutions, headquartered in Amsterdam, had built a strong position in the European email marketing market. Their Dialogue platform offered capabilities that most Brazilian competitors lacked: real-time dynamic content (Pixylon), advanced behavioral segmentation, and campaign automation. They saw an opportunity in Brazil, where 80% of digital marketing budgets went to email, but the local platforms were technically behind European standards. The challenge was how to enter a market that is notoriously difficult for foreign companies: complex corporate formation requirements, a strong preference for Portuguese-language software and support, and business cultures where personal relationships outweigh cold outreach.

Tripolis approached us (then operating as RAD MKT, the predecessor to Ypsilon Digital) to run the complete market entry project from Buenos Aires, taking advantage of our proximity to the Brazilian market, our Portuguese language capabilities, and our understanding of Latin American business norms.

Our Approach

Comprehensive Market Scan. We produced a comprehensive market research document covering every aspect of entering the Brazilian email marketing space. The scan ran six chapters and an appendix, covering demographic and economic context, the regulatory environment for starting a business in Brazil (ranked #120 on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index at the time; 13 procedures, 119 days average to incorporate), the growing SaaS adoption landscape (27% of Brazilian companies were new SaaS adopters that year, the highest rate globally), and the specific state of email marketing. The market was promising: 80% of digital marketing budgets went to email, and Brazil had become the fifth largest ecommerce market worldwide. But the local platforms were technically behind European standards, and Brazil’s email sender reputation was poor, meaning companies were hungry for better deliverability tools.

Competitive Intelligence. We profiled 25+ Brazilian companies across four categories: email marketing platforms (Akna, Dinamize, Virtual Target, All In Mail, Mailsender, Locaweb, MaileeMe, TeContato, Mandic, Nitronews), digital agency groups (Grupo ABC, Grupo TV1, Grupo Eugenio, Octopus, Full Jazz, RIOT), independent agencies (Enken, Intermidia, Spicycomm, Addialeto, VM2, Pulso, Next Target, Valor Mais), and potential support partners. For each, we documented client base, pricing models, technical capabilities, and strategic fit. Our analysis showed that only 3-5 companies operated in the same market segment as Tripolis, and most competitors focused on smaller users, leaving room for a new player targeting enterprise accounts.

Partner Identification and Outreach. We narrowed the field to a shortlist, recommending Mailsender, Mandic, Locaweb, and Nitronews among email platforms, and RIOT and Next Target among agencies. The contact strategy was built around personal introductions through APADI and ABEMD (the Brazilian associations for digital agencies and direct marketing). We coordinated the Tripolis CEO’s visit to São Paulo, arranged meetings, wrote Portuguese outreach emails for each prospect, and facilitated all introductions locally.

Commercial Agreements. We drafted and negotiated the Value Added Reseller (VAR) agreement between Tripolis International BV and MediaPost in São Paulo. This included the Cloud Service Agreement (translated to Portuguese), the VAR terms covering territory rights, first-line/second-line support obligations, IP protections, training requirements, and revenue sharing. We also handled the immigration paperwork research for foreign workers, company formation documentation (Pedido de Filiação), and Central Bank registration requirements.

The Results

The Tripolis Brazil market entry project delivered a complete go-to-market package:

• 24-page market research document with actionable intelligence on 25+ companies across email platforms, agency groups, independent agencies, and support partners
• Pricing benchmarks showing Tripolis was competitively positioned against AKNA and Dinamize, with only 3-5 companies operating in the same enterprise segment
• Signed VAR agreement with MediaPost in São Paulo, establishing Tripolis’s first official reseller in Brazil
• Cloud Service Agreement translated and localized to Portuguese, compliant with Brazilian commercial law
• Complete company formation documentation, immigration research, and Central Bank registration guidance
• Prospect outreach list of email marketing platforms, digital agencies, and support companies with Portuguese outreach emails written for each target

What We Learned

The Tripolis project was one of the earliest examples of what eventually became our Market Entry advisory service. It taught us that entering Latin American markets requires local intelligence, local language, and local relationships. The 24-page market scan was valuable, but what made the difference was the ability to be on the ground in São Paulo, make introductions in Portuguese, and understand the unwritten rules of Brazilian business culture. Hierarchies matter in Brazil more than in most markets; you need to reach decision-makers directly, and that only happens through warm introductions at industry associations like ABEMD and APADI. Cold email outreach to Brazilian companies proved almost completely ineffective during the project.

This project also validated the value of combining research with execution in a single engagement. The same person who produced the market research also drafted the legal agreements, handled the partner negotiations, and wrote the Portuguese outreach emails. That continuity, where strategy and execution live in the same team, is something clients consistently tell us makes a difference compared to firms that hand off a strategy document and walk away.