Olist, the Brazilian unicorn who wants to compete with Liverpool online

The company helps SMEs to advertise their products in this type of marketplace, but they also take care of all the logistical support, the optimization of the catalog and the growth of the companies according to the success they are having.

“As with many retail producers, entering a large space to sell can become difficult to execute if there is no logistical support and knowledge around e-commerce,” Rubin said.

The company has managed to add 45,000 stores and has agreements with companies such as Coppel and Walmart, in addition to advising more than 100,000 entrepreneurs and having a record of 4.5 million products.

“We decided to focus on Brazil and Mexico because they are the fastest growing countries in the region, the idea is to execute expansion plans in the future, but now we can offer the service throughout the Republic,” Rubin said.

Although the platform was born as a response to artisans looking for a space in Brazil to sell online, today they are focused on creating synergy with small producers, who seek to increase the number of six out of 10 sales made by these businesses.

As for the financing they have received, Olist achieved after a series E round of 186 million dollars that gave it the status of a unicorn, since it exceeded 1,500 million dollars in value. SoftBank, Hedosophia, Corton Capital, Valor Capital, Goldman Sachs and Globo Ventures and Wellington Management participated in this investment.

Throughout 2021, the year in which the economic reactivation began after the hardest stage of confinement, the growth of Latin American e-commerce was 37%, according to figures from the Beyond Borders 2021/2022 study, prepared by Ebanx.

Although in Mexico the adoption of digital channels advanced during this period, Brazilian e-commerce continues to be the most relevant in the region, since part of its success is its population, made up of 212 million inhabitants, while in Mexico there are 127 millions.