# Roberto Oliveira

> Roberto Oliveira is the Belo Horizonte-based cofounder and CEO of Blip. His entrepreneurial career began with Take Phone in 1997 and developed through ringtones, corporate SMS and conversational software. He also cofounded Confrapar and Minu, serves on Confrapar’s board, advises startups and writes about AI and customer experience.

- **Role:** Cofounder and CEO at Blip
- **Organizations:** Blip, Confrapar, Minu, eMotion Studios, POP Recarga
- **Nationality:** Brazilian
- **Education:** Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Executive education in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Stanford University, Finance studies; qualification unspecified, Ibmec
- **Known for:** Cofounded and leads Blip, which lists customer presence in 32 countries on its official site., Helped develop a ringtone operation reaching more than 250,000 downloads per day at its peak., Led Blip through three institutional funding rounds totaling $230 million in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

## Career timeline

- **1997** — Opened Take Phone on the UFMG campus with Daniel Costa and Antônio Oliveira.
- **1999** — Blip traces its company founding to 1999, distinct from the 1997 Take Phone kiosk origin.
- **2002** — The partners closed the mobile-phone stores after competitive pressure and accumulated debt.
- **2005** — The ringtone operation was sold to Japan’s Faith.
- **2008** — Oliveira and his partners repurchased the operation and focused on corporate SMS.
- **2014** — Began preparing a conversational platform for an anticipated WhatsApp business opening; completed Stanford executive education.
- **2018** — Blip participated in the early WhatsApp business platform rollout.
- **2020** — Blip received a $100 million investment from Warburg Pincus.
- **2022** — Blip raised a $70 million Series B.
- **2023** — Blip acquired GUS to support expansion into Spain and Latin America.
- **2024** — Blip completed a $60 million Series C led by SoftBank with Microsoft participation; announced a five-year Microsoft collaboration in December.
- **2026** — Continues leading Blip’s international expansion and discussing voice capabilities for AI agents.

## Achievements

- Cofounded and leads Blip, which lists customer presence in 32 countries on its official site.
- Helped develop a ringtone operation reaching more than 250,000 downloads per day at its peak.
- Led Blip through three institutional funding rounds totaling $230 million in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
- Cofounded Confrapar and Minu; serves as a Confrapar board member.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — In an October 3 interview, Oliveira discussed European expansion and plans to introduce voice capabilities for Blip’s AI agents.
- **2026-09** — Blip’s newsroom highlighted September 3 coverage reporting revenue above R$1 billion and continued international growth.
- **2026-07** — Published an Exame opinion essay arguing that AI value depends on coordinating people, systems and agents to produce business outcomes.

## Links

- Website: https://blip.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertoblip/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/roberto-oliveira
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-07