Tienda Nube, an Argentinian startup, has raised US $7 million to make it easier for small and medium-sized companies to participate in e-commerce opportunities in Latin America.
Peer around any street corner across Latin America and you will find that the entrepreneurial spirit in this part of the world is high, with millions of SMEs feeding the economy. Although the number of these small businesses is growing, their potential for upward growth is somewhat stunted by a lack of opportunity to expand online. Accessing the e-commerce market is proving difficult with relatively few resources and a lack of public policies to encourage it.
Tienda Nube
Online Platform
This could all be about to change, however, thanks to an Argentinian startup, Tienda Nube, which has raised $7 million USD to help small businesses operate online. Launched in 2010, Tienda Nube enables SMBs and entrepreneurs to create online shops by providing the tools to manage payment, same day shipments and sales of their business from any device. Not only does the online platform help small businesses ramp up sales but, more importantly, it creates a professional shopping experience for their customers.
The $7 million investment was led by the fund Elevar Equity, a human-focused venture capital team that channels funding into transformative business projects that serve low-income communities in Latin America and India. With Tienda Nube already functioning largely in Argentina and Brazil, it is now looking to expand operations into Mexico thanks to Elevar.
Although Brazil remains the frontrunner for Latin America’s largest online retail market, responsible for 42% of the region’s $47.4 billion in e-commerce sales, the region still remains behind Asia in terms of e-commerce growth. With investments into companies such as Tienda Nube, it is predicted that sales from e-commerce in Latin America will grow at compound annual growth rate of 17%, reaching $85 billion by the end of 2019.
Now is finally the time for these small businesses, which have been the backbone of the Latin American economy, to conquer the global market.