The COVID-19 epidemic has made more people shopping online everywhere, and Latin America is no exception. The São Paulo-based Nuvemshop has created an e-commerce platform that aims to give SMBs and merchants the opportunity to connect more directly with their customers. As more and more people in Latin America become accustomed to buying digitally, the company has seen a huge boost in business over the past year. Demand for this specialty has grown significantly because of recent corporate scandals.
However, over the past 12 months, this demand has skyrocketed as more businesses are trying to gain more control over their brands. Santiago Sosa, co-founder and CEO of Nuvemshop, said that instead of selling their products in existing markets (such as the Mercado Libre, Amazon’s Brazilian equivalent), many entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are choosing to start and grow their own online businesses. “Most merchants have entered the internet by selling in the marketplace but we have heard from the new generation of merchants and SMBs that they no longer want to intervene,” he said.
“They want to connect more directly with customers and let them know their own brand, image and voice.” Evidence is number. Nuvemshop across Brazil, Argentina and Mexico saw the number of its merchants at around 80,000 compared to 20,000 at the beginning of 2020. These businesses range from direct-to-customer (DTC) to larger brands such as PlayMobil, Billabong and Luigi Bosca.
In 2020, virtually every KPI company tripled to show the world massively transformed online, and according to Sosa, Nuvemshop’s platform had 14 million transactions last year. “With us, merchants can look for a more comprehensive ecosystem around payment, logistics, shipping and catalog / inventory management,” he said.
The rapid growth of Nuvemshop has attracted the attention of Silicon Valley-based Excel. With just $30 million rose in the Series C round in October and a profit in 2020, the Nuvemshop team was looking for no more capital. However, Axel partner Ethan Choi said his firm saw the possibility of becoming the Latin American market leader or “de facto” e-commerce platform at Nuvemshop.
“Excel has been investing in e-commerce for a very long time. This is a very important area for us, “said Choi.” We have seen what they creating and all their potential. Therefore, we ask them to invest in us with pre-interest.” Today, Nuvemshop is announcing that it has closed on a $90 million Series D fund led by Accel. ThornTree Capital and returning supporters Kaszek, Qualcomm Ventures and others also raised the money, bringing the total funding of Nuvemshop to about $130 million since 2011.
