nocnoc, the facilitator of cross-border eCommerce between global sellers and Latin America, today announced that it has secured $14 million in Series A funding, “led by PayPal Ventures with participation from Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven and Ignia.”
The funding from the investment round will “further strengthen nocnoc’s mission to help international businesses grow and expand into Latin America.” nocnoc plans to “utilize the capital to expand its reach into new markets and open additional sales channels.”
The capital will also be used to enhance nocnoc’s fulfillment solution for retailers and expand its payments support, “providing a safer and more reliable cross-border eCommerce experience for sellers around the world.”
nocnoc was created “to connect sellers in global markets with Latin America’s eCommerce platforms.”
Growing at an annual rate of 25%, Latin America is “one of the fastest-growing eCommerce markets in the world, but it is also one of the toughest regions to break into.”
Businesses that attempt to expand into Latin America “face several obstacles, including understanding market trends, building a reputation, ensuring timely product delivery, reducing cancellations, providing local customer support, accepting local payments, and managing duties and working capital demands.”
nocnoc addresses these cultural, logistical and financial obstacles “on behalf of their merchants, allowing global brands and online retailers to easily sell their products in previously inaccessible markets.”
Ilan Bajarlia, co-founder and CEO of nocnoc, said:
“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 U.S., 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.”
Ian Cox Moya, Partner at PayPal Ventures, said:
“We see significant opportunity in cross-border trade, and believe nocnoc is uniquely positioned to help sellers win in Latin America. We are thrilled to be supporting nocnoc founders Ilan Bajarlia, Diego Szilagyi and Joaquín Colella, and the rest of the nocnoc team as they grow and expand the business.”
nocnoc offers “a comprehensive solution that enables sellers to expand their businesses quickly and successfully.”
Global e-retailers simply “upload their product catalog 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, among others.”
nocnoc maximizes 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.”
Looking to reduce friction in cross-border eCommerce payments, nocnoc has streamlined its approach to paying its merchants. In Latin America, sellers typically “wait an average of 40 to 50 days to collect payment for a sale, which significantly constrains their growth.”
To address this, nocnoc facilitates timely payments “to global sellers in their local currency, relieving them of concerns related to canceled orders and exchange rate uncertainty.”
Diego Szilagyi, co-founder and CCO of nocnoc, said:
“Typically, nocnoc pays sellers every 15 days, even if the product has yet not arrived at its final destination. Although most products arrive within the expected time frame, delivery times may vary. To reduce friction in cross-border payments and improve sellers’ performance, we have developed our Advanced Payments product, which accelerates seller payouts to just 3 to 5 days, with cancellations and returns covered.”