Betting on Brazil: Why Gurhan Kiziloz Built His $400M Company in a Market Others Feared

In 2024, Nexus International reported $400 million in revenue. It did so without venture capital, without a board, and without diversifying across geographies. Instead, the company placed an outsized bet on one market: Brazil. The decision to concentrate operations in a region that, until recently, lacked a clear regulatory framework for digital gaming raised eyebrows in some quarters. But to founder and CEO Gurhan Kiziloz, it represented an opportunity that larger, slower-moving companies weren’t prepared to act on.

At the heart of Nexus’s success is Megaposta, its flagship gaming platform that gained substantial traction across Brazil in the months following the country’s formalization of a national licensing regime. While many international operators waited for legal clarity, Nexus moved early, secured its gaming license, and executed a region-specific growth strategy that emphasized local media, offline presence, and market familiarity.

“We didn’t overthink it,” Kiziloz said in a recent interview. “We launched the marketing, and the users came. It wasn’t a grand plan. It was instinct, and it worked.”

That instinct ran counter to prevailing sentiment among more traditional gaming firms, many of which viewed Brazil’s gaming landscape as a high-risk proposition until regulatory frameworks were fully enacted. For years, operators navigated a grey market defined by legal ambiguity, political uncertainty, and fluctuating enforcement. Yet Brazil’s young, mobile-first, and digitally native demographic made it one of the most attractive latent markets in Latin America.

The turning point came with the country’s legislative shift toward formal regulation, which introduced licensing requirements, responsible gaming protocols, and tax structures for licensed operators. For companies like Nexus, the introduction of a clear regulatory framework served not as a deterrent but a green light. By acquiring a gaming license early, Nexus gained legitimacy and the ability to scale marketing and payment operations without the compliance risks that often plague operators in ambiguous jurisdictions.

The licensing process itself wasn’t trivial. Brazil’s regulatory environment has placed increasing emphasis on transparency, anti-money laundering measures, and platform auditing. While this has raised the barrier to entry, it has also created a protective moat for operators willing to meet the criteria. Nexus saw that moat as a feature, not a bug, and moved to cross it while others hesitated.

By mid-2024, Brazil had emerged as Latin America’s most dynamic digital gaming economy, buoyed by rising gross gaming revenue (GGR), increased average revenue per user (ARPU), and a wave of foreign investment. Nexus’s early presence allowed it to gain brand recognition in the offline and online space, an advantage in a market where user acquisition costs have since surged.

Still, the company’s concentrated exposure to Brazil isn’t without risk. As the country’s regulatory body begins to tighten enforcement and potentially raise tax rates, smaller or overleveraged operators may feel pressure. Nexus, without institutional investors or debt, maintains operational flexibility, but its scale now demands rigorous internal governance to maintain compliance at speed.

What’s noteworthy about Nexus’s growth in Brazil is how little of it was guided by the conventional playbook. There were no investor roadshows, no multi-market feasibility studies, and no sprawling strategic decks. Instead, the company operated more like a venture studio with real-time feedback loops, responding to market signals faster than most of its capital-backed peers.

The decision to operate without outside funding plays heavily into this agility. “We move fast. Really fast,” Kiziloz said. “No approvals, no politics, no waiting. If something makes sense, we go. It’s that simple.” In a regulated market like Brazil, where delays can cost both licenses and user base, that velocity became a core competitive edge.

Nexus’s early licensing also positioned it well as the country attracted heightened scrutiny from lawmakers and international observers. As unlicensed operators face potential blacklisting, Nexus can lean on its compliance standing and local credibility, a differentiator in an industry often plagued by reputational risk.

Whether Nexus’s Brazil-first model can be replicated elsewhere remains to be seen. The company’s success so far has hinged on a confluence of bold execution, market timing, and structural independence. But it also reflects a growing trend in global tech: skepticism toward external capital and a return to founder-led conviction.

For now, Nexus International stands as one of the clearest examples of what a high-speed, self-financed operator can achieve in a post-legalization market. Its $400 million milestone signals more than just revenue; it’s validation that not all growth stories need to follow the same script. As Brazil’s iGaming sector continues to mature, the companies that shaped its early landscape will be remembered not just for showing up, but for doing so before the door was fully open.