PayPal Ventures has led a $14 million Series A funding round for nocnoc, a firm that helps facilitate cross-border e-commerce between global sellers and Latin America.
Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven and Ignia joined the round, the proceeds of which will be used to expand nocnoc's reach into new markets and open additional sales channels, as well as boost its fulfillment solution for retailers and expand its payments support.
Growing at an annual rate of 25%, Latin America is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world, but, says nocnoc, it is also one of the toughest regions to break into.
The firm says that it helps addresses the cultural, logistical and financial obstacles on behalf of merchants, allowing global brands and online retailers to easily sell their products in previously inaccessible markets.
Retailers upload their product catalogue to nocnoc’s platform and immediately start selling in nocnoc’s owned, online megastores across 15 of the largest marketplaces in the region, including Amazon, Mercado Libre, Americanas, Carrefour, Walmart, Magazine Luiza and Coppel.
The company works to maximise product exposure by managing product listings across multiple marketplaces and building effective marketing campaigns based on current trends. nocnoc also handles all communications with consumers, last-mile deliveries, cancellations and returns.
Ilan Bajarlia, CEO, nocnoc, says: "Marketplaces make up 80% of eCommerce in Latin America, but are highly fragmented. There is no ‘winner takes all’ player, like Amazon or Walmart in the US, or Taobao or JD in China.
"In this sense, listing, managing and selling on all these platforms at the same time is hard and costly. nocnoc obscures this fragmentation by allowing international sellers to quickly and easily grow their sales in Latin America while preserving their ability to focus on their core sales channels."