Angel Ventures, FJ Labs, Upper90, Presight Capital led a US$50m seed round in VALOREO, a Mexico-based e-commerce holding company specialized in acquiring, operating, and scaling Latin American- focused businesses under the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business model, with participation from angels David Geisen (Mercado Libre), Ricardo Weder (Justo), Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz (Loft), Ralf Wenzel (SoftBank), Tiago Dalvi (olist), and Alfred Chuang (BEA Systems).
(Press Release) – VALOREO (www.valoreo.com) is building Latin America’s next-gen consumer holding with a focus on acquiring, operating, and scaling e-commerce businesses across the region. Headquartered in Mexico, VALOREO consolidates companies with outstanding brands that sell category-leading products online and also develops its own brands in-house. With the mission to bring better products at more affordable prices to the Latin American consumer, VALOREO is the first mover in Latin America and has already ramped up its operations. E-commerce merchants have now the possibility to sell their businesses and see their brands reach new heights through VALOREO’s consolidated operations, sophisticated infrastructure, and the team’s deep expertise across investing, e-commerce, branding, operations, and supply chain management.
Over the last decade, online marketplaces, such as 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, many of 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. VALOREO’s goal is to solve this and take the Latin American e-commerce experience to the next level.
Stefan Florea, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of VALOREO: “We 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 customers. 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.”
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). 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, which 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 Florea (ex-Hellman & Friedman), Stefan Florea (ex-Hg), Alexander Grüll (ex-Blackstone), Cedrik Hoffmann (serial emerging market entrepreneur), and Miguel Oehling (ex-Rocket Internet) has known each other for many years and combines extensive experience in investing, e-commerce, operations, supply chain management 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 purpose is clear: Support Latin American e-commerce entrepreneurs by providing liquidity as well as 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. All investors show a clear commitment to support VALOREO in the long run, as well as a willingness and ability to scale aggressively with the company. This led to one of Latin America´s largest seed rounds, co-led by prominent international and regional investors such as Upper90, FJ Labs, Angel Ventures, and Presight Capital, as well as other leading emerging markets funds, 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), Alfred Chuang (Founder of BEA Systems), Ralf Wenzel (Serial Tech Entrepreneur & Investor) and others.
About VALOREO
VALOREO 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, 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.