After gaining strength with contributions totaling US$650 million since its creation, 13 years ago, Nuvemshop is no longer just a platform for creating online stores. A startup of Argentine origin, but which defines itself as a Brazilian company, is already valued at more than US$ 1 billion. To do justice to status as a unicorn, he invested in the diversification of the business, after the boom of e-commerce during the Covid-19 pandemic. It created its own logistics service and will now also grant loans to retailers who are already on the platform.
Initially, the company will provide R$42 million in credit. Loans range from R$1,000 to R$200,000, with interest rates starting at 2.59% per month. “For large banks, companies on our platform are considered small customers. Access to working capital is very painful”, explained Renato Burin, director of fintech at Nuvemshop, to IM Business. A study carried out by startup showed that the lack of resources to reinvest in the business is the biggest challenge for 44% of companies that use the platform.
For now, Nuvemshop will work in the pre-approved credit format. Only customers who already use the platform and have reached “a certain minimum transactional volume” will receive a loan offer. It is also mandatory to use the Nuvem Pago tool, the company’s own payment method and which is already used by 85% of Nuvemshop’s tenant base.
The financing went through a testing phase in which R$5 million in credits were granted. “The allocation of resources was quite varied. We saw retailers investing in a large purchase with the supplier, to take advantage of a discount, or reinforcing stock to get through a sales peak, without facing product shortages”, says Burin. “We also saw retailers expanding production or storage capacity.”
More than 120 thousand companies use the Nuvemshop platform. Most of them are in Brazil – they are small and medium-sized. In 2023, these retailers earned R$3.3 billion, 22% more than in 2022. In the first quarter of this year, revenue already reached R$945 million, with growth of 23% in the annual comparison.
In principle, Nuvemshop will only offer credit to Brazilian retailers, but does not rule out taking the financing modality to other countries where it operates. Today the startup has operations in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico. Offering new loan lines to customers is also on the radar.
“We will offer the R$42 million and monitor how the resources will be adopted by the client. We will adjust the offer as the product evolves”, says the director of Nuvemshop. What is certain is that the company has no intention of expanding financing outside its customer base.
“The company is very well capitalized and this allows us to continue investing in products, technology and on the credit front as well. It’s much more about understanding our customers’ appetite and improving the model”, says Alejandro Vázquez, co-founder and president of Nuvemshop.
