Mercado Libre, a tech company and one of the largest digital commerce firms in Latin America, confirms the acquisition of Redelcom, a Chilean firm that has been operating since 2010 as a payment services provider and in October 2019 started providing point-of-sale (POS) terminals with the latest tech to retailers.
As mentioned in the announcement, Mercado Libre aims to consolidate its value proposition in Chile and “enhance the growth of its multiple payment tools and digital financial solutions.”
The update further noted that this is part of its purpose to “democratize trade and finance in Latin America and contribute to reduce financial inclusion gaps, helping to improve the quality of life of people and boosting the business of companies, especially SMEs and entrepreneurs.”
Mercado Libre, via Mercado Pago, is a key player in the POS market in different countries in the region, “selling more than one million terminals during the third quarter of 2021.” Redelcom will “join the Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago ecosystem and its successful business model,” the update noted.
Chile has presented “significant growth in the region and this has led the company to seek for alternatives to enhance the offer for SMEs and companies that operate with Mercado Libre,” the announcement revealed.
Matías Spagui, Director of Mercado Pago, stated:
“Redelcom has the best product in the market and, leveraging the expertise of the Mercado Libre ecosystem, we will continue to consolidate financial services in Chile. Redelcom is a company that is in tune with the purpose of democratizing commerce and achieving financial inclusion. 99% of its customers are SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs and they will continue to receive the same quality of service.”
Redelcom is a payment network that provides innovative tech at a national level, “allowing the flexibility of reaching small and large businesses.”
Its POS accepts payments with all credit and debit cards, “from any national and international bank.”
In addition, it provides merchants with tools to “facilitate the management of their money, such as, for example, a system for issuing electronic receipts linked to the Internal Revenue Service and linked to the cash register control system, which provides merchants with a detailed statement of their financial flow.”
The POS also “offers services such as bill payment and cell phone recharges, among others.”
Matías Spagui added:
“Redelcom started operating POS for merchants in October 2019, it has shown to have a great team behind it and an important operational excellence”.
Redelcom’s General Manager, Roberto Charme, remarked:
“We are very pleased to be part of Mercado Libre, a leader in e-commerce and digital payments in the region. We believe this is a great opportunity to expand the technological solutions offered to our customers throughout Chile, adding the products and distribution strength of Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago.”
The acquisition of Redelcom reinforces Mercado Libre’s ecosystem, which “offers different solutions to SMEs and companies through its marketplace platform and its fintech Mercado Pago.”
At present, over 32 thousand SMEs and entrepreneurs “sell on Mercado Libre, and almost half of them joined in the middle of the pandemic.”
Mercado Pago has made its digital payment tools “available to merchants, where currently more than 65,000 merchants process their payments with the company, of which more than 55,000 joined during the pandemic.”