Tienda Pago, a provider of working capital to small retail stores to finance their key consumer products across Latin America, received an investment from Accion Venture Lab.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The company will use the funds to expand into Mexico and find new distributor partners.
Led by co-founder and CEO Dan Cohen, Tienda Pago provides micro and small enterprises with short term working capital to fund inventory purchases from distributors. The company, which partners with major fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) distributors that serve these businesses, has developed a closed loop payment mechanism using cell phones, enabling distribution companies to collect electronically and reduce inefficiencies and costs. Tienda Pago partners with distributors to acquire client stores, and pays the distributors directly for inventory that is then delivered to the shop-owners. These shop-owners will then re-pay Tienda Pago within 1-2 weeks, after sales turnover, via electronic mobile payment platform.
Currently operating in Peru and Venezuela, the company first conducted operational pilots loaning to over 300 “mom-and-pop” stores to fund inventory purchases from major fast-moving consumer goods distributors.
Following the initial pilot phase, Tienda Pago now expects to serve more than 10,000 clients throughout Latin America by the end of 2016.
Current clients include milk and soda distributors, such as Gloria, Nestle, and SABMiller.
Accion Venture Lab is a $10m initiative dedicated to providing seed capital and management support to innovative startups that expand financial access to the poor and underserved.
FinSMEs
07/01/2016