VALOREO, the Mexico-based acquirer of marketplace sellers, raises $50M USD in its seed round from globally leading e-commerce investors.
By: Angel Ventures Mx
Tags: Startup, Marketplaces, Angel Ventures, Seed Round, Entrepreneurship

VALOREO, the Mexico-based acquirer of marketplace sellers, raises $50M USD in its seed round from globally leading e-commerce investors. Angel Ventures Mx Feb 16·6 min read

VALOREO raises one of the largest seed rounds in Latin America from selected globally leading investors in the e-commerce space, including Upper90, FJ Labs, Angel Ventures and Presight Capital, and prominent Latin American angel investors.

VALOREO is Latin America’s first e-commerce acquirer, headquartered in Mexico, and has already ramped up its operations as the first mover in the Latin American market. The company invests in, operates, and scales e-commerce businesses in the region.}

E-commerce merchants have the possibility to sell their businesses and see their brands reach new heights through VALOREO’s consolidated operations, infrastructure, and the team’s deep expertise across investing, e-commerce, branding, operations, and supply chain management.

Mexico City, 16 February 2021 — VALOREO (www.valoreo.com) acquires, operates, and scales e commerce businesses. A Mexican company with a focus on the Latin American market, VALOREO consolidates companies with outstanding brands that sell category-leading products online. VALOREO creates value by scaling these brands through merging operations and leveraging the firm’s deep expertise and sophisticated infrastructure. By doing so, VALOREO provides an attractive exit to the entrepreneurs behind these companies, who receive a lucrative compensation for the impressive brands they have built and the confidence that their companies are in great hands on their new journey of hyper-growth.

Over the last decade Mercado Libre and Amazon have created a unique ecosystem that allows a new generation of forward-thinking entrepreneurs across Latin America to create unique e commerce brands from scratch. However, these entrepreneurs currently lack both the resources to reach the next chapter of growth for their brands as well as access to liquidity to pursue new ventures.

At the same time, the Latin American e-commerce market is currently at an inflection point of exponential growth, having already been the fastest growing e-commerce market in the world in 2020 at 37% YoY growth (eMarketer, 2020). Mercado Libre, the leading e-commerce platform across Latin America, generated $5.9Bn USD Gross Merchandise Volume in Q3 2020 alone with a 117% YoY growth (Mercado Libre, 2020).

Besides the rapid growth, the market is much more fragmented compared to other regions, such as the US, due to the multitude of marketplaces present across Latin America and therefore provides a unique opportunity to facilitate a consolidation of the seller space and provide enhanced value to end-customers.

The founding team (consisting of Martin & Stefan Florea, Alexander Grüll, Cedrik Hoffmann, and Miguel Oehling) has known each other for many years and combine extensive experience in investing, e-commerce, operations, supply chain and company building — as well as a huge passion for Latin America and the entrepreneurial spirit of the region. Having seen first-hand the challenges of scaling small businesses, their mission is clear: Help Latin American e-commerce entrepreneurs by providing liquidity and helping their brands reach the next phase of growth.

When selecting their supporters and investors, the VALOREO-founders were looking for differentiated e-commerce expertise, unique local knowledge of the Latin American ecosystem, and depth of experience in financing high growth companies. This has led to one of Latin America´s largest seed rounds, co-led by prominent international and regional investors and entrepreneurs such as Upper90, Fabrice Grinda at FJ Labs, Angel Ventures, and Presight Capital, with participation from a long list of reputable angel investors, including David Geisen (Head of Mercado Libre Mexico), Ricardo Weder (founder of Jüsto), Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz (founders of Loft), Jens Wasel (founder of KW-Group, one of the largest Amazon sellers globally), Alfred Chuang (founder of BEA systems, “The CEO’s CEO” according to Andreessen Horowitz), Tushar Ahluwalia (founder of Razor Group, one of Europe´s leading marketplace aggregators), Eduardo Goes (Brazilian Serial Technology Entrepreneur), Ralf Wenzel (Serial Tech Entrepreneur & Investor) and others.

Stefan Florea, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of VALOREO: “With VALOREO we are the pioneers in building the leading next-generation consumer holding in Latin America. We are the first movers and have gathered an experienced founding team and the trust of global investors with local expertise. Our goal is to provide value to thousands of local sellers and help elevate Latin American e-commerce to the next level. We also seek to partner hand-in-hand with Mercado Libre, Amazon and other regional marketplaces, as without these platforms this opportunity would not exist. These platforms have created unique opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and create businesses from scratch. Professionalizing these businesses and developing truly outstanding brands will provide a win-win-win situation for sellers, marketplaces, and us. Our admiration for great brands, products, and the entrepreneurs behind them will be determinant for our growth in a market we are deeply passionate about.”

Hernán Fernández, Founder & Managing Partner of Angel Ventures: “We are very excited to back an amazing team, having an unparalleled bond and bringing experience, passion and depths of expertise that complement each other. We are confident that they will add a lot of value to the Latin American e-commerce landscape, where the market growth and the fragmentation of the seller space make this moment a unique opportunity for VALOREO.”

Ricardo Weder, Co-Founder & CEO & of Jüsto: “The e-commerce market is at an inflection point in Latin America and VALOREO has the right team to develop truly outstanding consumer brands and elevate the Latin American e-commerce space to the next level.”

Jens Wasel, Founder of KW-Commerce, “VALOREO is in the right place at the right time: The Latin American e-commerce market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world and I am sure we will see many more innovative and distinct local brands in the region, some even growing beyond their borders and across Latin America in the coming years. Having personally built one of the world’s largest Amazon sellers, I know first-hand about the difficulties of scaling an online brand. To me, there is no doubt that VALOREO has the ideal team to help Latin American brands realize their full potential and provide the expertise and funding to merchants necessary to capture this unique opportunity.”

How VALOREO works:

E-commerce entrepreneurs can sell their companies in less than 5 weeks. The process is divided into three key steps.

1. Free evaluation:

In less than one week after the initial contact, VALOREO provides a term sheet with an indicative price for the purchase of the business.

2. Analysis & Due Diligence:

Upon signing of the term sheet, VALOREO conducts a detailed analysis of the operations and key financial data to confirm the indicative offer and provide a final binding offer.

3. Closing & Transfer of Funds:

Within 2 weeks of the final offer, the parties will sign all necessary documents and VALOREO will make the payment to the seller´s bank account. Thereafter, VALOREO will fully focus on growing the brand within its portfolio and elevating it to the next level with accelerated velocity.

About VALOREO

VALOREO (www.valoreo.com) is Latin America’s next-gen e-commerce holding. Founded in 2020 by Martin and Stefan Florea, Alexander Grüll, Cedrik Hoffmann and Miguel Oehling, the team combines experience in private equity, investment banking, e-commerce, manufacturing, and supply chain management. The company has raised capital from some of the world´s leading investment firms such as Upper90, FJ Labs, Angel Ventures and Presight Capital, as well as prominent angel investors. (press@valoreo.com)

About Angel Ventures

Angel Ventures (www.angelventures.vc) is a venture capital firm focused on early stage investments with high growth potential in the Pacific Alliance (Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Perú). AV started in 2008 as the first professionally managed Angel Investor Network, which later evolved into two Venture Capital Funds, the Angel Ventures Coinvestment Fund I in 2013, and the AV Pacific Alliance Fund II in 2018. Today Angel Ventures is a regional firm with four chapters across three countries, having invested over US $40M as a Fund Manager in nearly 30 companies, including Clip, Kueski, Urbvan and Homie.

Press Contact Angel Ventures:

María Villarroel | mvillarroel@angelventures.vc

Valeria García | vgarcia@angelventures.vc

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