Latin e-commerce startup Merama raises $ 225 million

Latin American e-commerce startup Merama announced the raising of an additional $ 225 million in Series B financing from Advent International and Softbank Group.

Felipe Delgado, Merama’s co-founder and CFO, said in a statement that “the new capital from the Series B round will allow us to pay off debt more quickly, partner with larger companies, finish building our technology platform, and provide capital from work to existing brands. “

SoftBank led an initial close of approximately $ 150 million and Advent led a subsequent close, bringing the total raised to 225 million. New investor Globo Ventures and existing investors Monashees, Valor Capital, Balderton Capital and MAYA Capital also participated. The proceeds will be used for the exponential growth, professionalization and incubation of some of the largest e-commerce brands in Latin America, while creating the technology and tools necessary to support them.

Merama invests in online companies in order to help them operate and scale their business. To date, it has acquired stakes in more than 20 companies operating in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia and the United States.

It is worth mentioning that the growing development of electronic commerce in Latin America is one of the elements for which investors have paid attention to this market. An example of this is that according to eMarketer figures, Brazil and Mexico were the second and fifth e-commerce markets that grew the most worldwide in 2020.

“E-commerce in Latin America is growing exponentially, creating huge opportunities for leading online brand developers like Merama,” said Renato Andrade, co-founder of Merama. “We are firmly convinced of our differentiated model of collaboration with founders to to grow a select number of the best brands to become de facto category leaders. “

Merama

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/388625