Jüsto has a clear goal: to consolidate its operation in Mexico. This 2024, the Mexican startup turns five years old and announced the raising of capital for $70 million, a round led by General Atlantic.
Carlos Ranero, Chief of Growth, and Ricardo Weder, CEO and co-founder of Jüsto, in an exclusive interview with Forbes Mexicothey talked about how they will accelerate their growth in the country, as well as their plans to consolidate the national operation.
“(Of that financing) 50 million dollars are from investors and 20 are from a loan that HSBC is giving us,” said Weder.
With this, Jüsto became the first technology company to receive venture financing from the bank.
This news came as a breath of fresh air for the Mexican company, especially after the last few years were deserts in terms of Venture Capital (VC) for this and other startups in the region.
You can also read: The energy transition in Mexico is slow: specialists
According to the Status of Venture Capital in Latin America 2023 report, last year, Latin America experienced its lowest VC investment volume in the last 5 years.
“The last few years have not been particularly good in terms of access to capital by startups, in terms of the change in market sentiment, investment has dried up quite a bit, especially in growth rounds, in large rounds, and it gives us It is a pleasure to have the trust of our investors and to continue betting on Jüsto. We are in an industry where we compete with great titans and we are very pleased that each time our operational excellence, but also our technology, is beginning to make a difference,” acknowledged the CEO.
This capital, Weder said, is going to be invested in Mexico. “Jüsto has raised more than 300 million dollars, more than 90% of this investment has been invested in Mexico,” he commented, so its commitment remains in the country and will leave international expansions for later, but they will maintain their operations. in Brazil and Peru.
“What is clear is: focus on Mexico and expansion to many more cities,” he said.
Weder’s objectives are to increase operational capacity and infrastructure, expansion to other cities, including Guadalajara, as it currently operates in Mexico City, Monterrey and Querétaro, as well as investing in technology.
“We want to achieve hyper-personalization through technology and user experience and be able to support the user with more data and more tools so that they can make better decisions and achieve their nutrition, budget and other goals,” he explained.
We recommend: AI advances in Mexico: Here, the leaders
The challenges and your vision for the future
Some of the challenges that Jüsto has faced is inflation. “Although there is talk that it is going down, the gap is already there, so we are using personalization to offer you coupons made for you, tailored to your needs,” mentioned Carlos Ranero. While Weder added that they hope it stabilizes.
Another has been the low penetration of supermarket purchases in Mexico, compared to other regions of the world. However, Weder is optimistic: “we believe that in the next three years we will see exponential growth that will put us close to countries where there is much stronger penetration, such as the United States or China.”
In Mexico, according to figures from the 19th Study on the habits of internet users in Mexico 2023, 35% of internet users buy the supermarket online, and it is ranked 12th among the activities carried out by Internet users.
“Obviously we know that supermarket shopping now and in the future is omnichannel,” mentioned Ricardo Weder, “what is certain is that online shopping will grow a lot, which right now is very low, compared to physical shopping, and will complement. It will be very much in our hands how we can, as digital companies, use technology and data to provide differentials in the purchase.”
Among their future plans is to strengthen their own brand, where they already have 400 products, continue supporting Mexican SMEs, since 70% of the products they sell in Mexico come from these companies, and strengthen their accelerator to continue helping them. to become professional. “Eventually we would like to be able to start investing in some of these,” Weder said.
Now read: Slim’s consortium seeks to expand collaboration with Musk’s firm
Likewise, Weder was excited because after five years at the head of the company they have managed to solidify and deepen their understanding of the market and how to be efficient operationally and technologically. Something that will allow them to take advantage of the opportunity they see: satisfy the new shopping experiences that consumers are looking for.
“That excites me very much because we already have a solid infrastructure and foundations to start generating very clear differentiators for our users. The opportunity is enormous, users look for new shopping experiences, they want to be surprised, but at the end of the day, in the food and perishable part, they want confidence and security that they are going to have very good quality,” he stated.
They expect to close 2024 with 100% growth in operations in Mexico and expect it to be greater next year. And at the moment they are not looking to go public.
“Something that excites me a lot is that I think that all the startups that have managed to overcome the worst part of the storm, we are all companies that are much more resilient, more mature, more solid than we were two or three years ago. I believe that a very good future is coming for all the companies that went through the hardest part of the storm, which is not over yet, and we will see great successes,” he assured.
Do you like to get informed through Google News? Follow our Showcase to have the best stories
