Inventa is a B2B wholesale marketplace connecting SMBs (retailers) directly to manufacturers (suppliers) in an easy-to-use online platform. In Brazil alone, more than 19 million SMBs have less than USD 1 million in revenue per year in an extremely fragmented market with many intrinsic challenges for its operators. Inventa operates in a USD 500 billion+ market and recently started its operations focusing on home décor and beauty in the city of Sao Paulo, a market with 110k+ potential customers (retailers). Similar companies/models outside of LATAM include Faire (US), which has raised more than USD 450 million with funds like Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, and Udann (India), which has raised over USD 1.2 billion with funds such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global. The companies are relatively new, launching in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
On one hand, in Latin America, many small retailers face a challenging environment when buying new products since (i) buying new products intrinsically imposes a financial risk as retailers might not sell them accordingly, (ii) many players have a poor inventory management system in place, and (iii) finding new products that have a high customer interest is not easy in the fragmented market of resellers. It is important to notice that catalog differentiation is relevant for local shops to keep a loyal consumer base. On the other hand, manufacturers also face challenges, such as (i) difficulties finding and accessing new small SMBs clients; (ii) the logistic challenge to, once having the SMB onboard, distribute the products in an efficient and viable way; and (iii) the inability to properly evaluate the credit risk of these small SMBs—hence, not offering credit lines to them and, as such, selling less.
With all these challenges, many transactions fail given the inefficiencies and challenges mentioned above. Under this context, Inventa was founded to reduce the friction between manufacturers and retailers and to increase sales for both sides. Under the new model, retailers and manufacturers can more easily find and connect with each other through an online platform. Also, retailers can, for the first time, (i) easily find new products to buy, (ii) acquire new products with no need to pay upfront (and in case they don’t sell them, they can return it to manufacturers within a certain period of time), (iii) have an order and invoice management system, and (iv) gather data on top-performing products. Manufacturers benefit from (i) standard payment terms, (ii) access to new clients (retailers) with no creditrisk, and (iii) partners to handle shipping and logistics. For its services, Inventa charges a double-digit take rate from manufacturers but no fees from retailers.
The company was co-founded by Marcos Salama, who led groceries for Rappi after finishing his MBA at Stanford; Laura Camargo, who worked as an investor in General Atlantic and as a VP of Finances in Gympass; and Fernando Carrasco, who worked as a Business Analyst in Data Science at McKinsey Spain after finishing his MBA at Columbia University.
Inventa is a B2B wholesale marketplace connecting SMBs (retailers) directly to manufacturers (suppliers) in an easy-to-use online platform. In Brazil alone, more than 19 million SMBs have less than USD 1 million in revenue per year in an extremely fragmented market with many intrinsic challenges for its operators. Inventa operates in a USD 500 billion+ market and recently started its operations focusing on home décor and beauty in the city of Sao Paulo, a market with 110k+ potential customers (retailers). Similar companies/models outside of LATAM include Faire (US), which has raised more than USD 450 million with funds like Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, and Udann (India), which has raised over USD 1.2 billion with funds such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global. The companies are relatively new, launching in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
On one hand, in Latin America, many small retailers face a challenging environment when buying new products since (i) buying new products intrinsically imposes a financial risk as retailers might not sell them accordingly, (ii) many players have a poor inventory management system in place, and (iii) finding new products that have a high customer interest is not easy in the fragmented market of resellers. It is important to notice that catalog differentiation is relevant for local shops to keep a loyal consumer base. On the other hand, manufacturers also face challenges, such as (i) difficulties finding and accessing new small SMBs clients; (ii) the logistic challenge to, once having the SMB onboard, distribute the products in an efficient and viable way; and (iii) the inability to properly evaluate the credit risk of these small SMBs—hence, not offering credit lines to them and, as such, selling less.
With all these challenges, many transactions fail given the inefficiencies and challenges mentioned above. Under this context, Inventa was founded to reduce the friction between manufacturers and retailers and to increase sales for both sides. Under the new model, retailers and manufacturers can more easily find and connect with each other through an online platform. Also, retailers can, for the first time, (i) easily find new products to buy, (ii) acquire new products with no need to pay upfront (and in case they don’t sell them, they can return it to manufacturers within a certain period of time), (iii) have an order and invoice management system, and (iv) gather data on top-performing products. Manufacturers benefit from (i) standard payment terms, (ii) access to new clients (retailers) with no creditrisk, and (iii) partners to handle shipping and logistics. For its services, Inventa charges a double-digit take rate from manufacturers but no fees from retailers.
The company was co-founded by Marcos Salama, who led groceries for Rappi after finishing his MBA at Stanford; Laura Camargo, who worked as an investor in General Atlantic and as a VP of Finances in Gympass; and Fernando Carrasco, who worked as a Business Analyst in Data Science at McKinsey Spain after finishing his MBA at Columbia University.