Lokal, the Chilean B2B marketplace founded in 2022 by Nicolás Sarquis, Alberto Morelli and Gabriel Lyon, closed a round of US$700,000. The investment came from the Discovery II fund of Invexor Venture Partners, a firm founded in 2015 by Jorge Rodríguez and Cristián Undurraga.
With this operation, the founders maintain more than 75% of the company. Additionally, Lokal became the first startup of its generation in the accelerator to close a round. Sarquis and Morelli met at Fpay, Falabella’s fintech. They then joined Lyon, who had developed products for startups at Platanus.
The platform allows warehouses, minimarkets and pharmacies to buy products from different suppliers from a single place. In addition, it offers credit alternatives to finance orders and guarantees payment to brands. Currently, it connects more than 500 suppliers with 3,500 businesses in some 260 communities in Chile.
AI to optimize purchases
With the new capital, Lokal is looking to expand its team, which currently has nine people. In addition, the company aims to expand nationally and reach more than 100,000 small businesses.
In parallel, it will develop an artificial intelligence tool. The system will recommend to each merchant what products to buy, in what quantity and when to replenish them. Thus, the platform seeks to reduce the time that business owners spend managing their supply.
“If the future of commerce is local, the best tools also have to be for them,” said Nicolás Sarquis, co-founder of Lokal. The bet points to a relevant segment. Stores concentrate about half of consumer sales in Latin America, although only a fraction is made through digital channels.
A market yet to be digitized
Lokal is part of a new generation of B2B marketplaces. These platforms seek to digitalize the supply of neighborhood stores in Latin America. Companies such as the Colombian Chiper also compete in this market.
Before this round, Lokal went through Platanus Ventures and raised US$100,000 in 2022. In addition, it received support from founders of companies such as HealthAtom, Buda.com, BabyTuto and Helados San Francisco.
Now, with the support of Invexor, the startup seeks to accelerate its growth in Chile. At the same time, it is committed to incorporating artificial intelligence into a critical task for small businesses: knowing what to buy, how much to buy and when to do it.
