Disrupting Latam’s Grocery Market: Online Retailer Jüsto Bags $65M Series A

Online supermarket Jüsto raised its third round of capital in less than 12 months, this time, bringing in $65 million in Series A funding.

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Jüsto, which translates to “fair” in Spanish, aims to provide high-quality products, fair practices, new distribution avenues to suppliers, and improved convenience by eliminating “the middlemen” in the supply chain.

Ricardo Weder, co-founder and CEO, started Mexico City-based Jüsto in 2019 as one of the country’s first vertically integrated, online grocery platforms with no physical store presence.

General Atlantic led the investment and was joined by existing investors Foundation Capital and Mountain Nazca. Since being founded, Jüsto has raised a total of $100 million, according to Crunchbase data. This includes $17 million raised in several tranches last summer. The investment is being touted by the company as “the largest Series A round raised in Latin America in the past decade.”

“We were not actively looking for a round and were working on the relationships with funds we admired, which is how we started talking to General Atlantic,” Weder told Crunchbase News. “We are only 18 months into operations, but we feel General Atlantic will be a key partner for us as we expand Jüsto in Mexico and Latin America.”

Weder intends to use the new funding to improve operations and last-mile logistics and technology, as well as continue the company’s geographic expansion throughout Mexico and into countries like Colombia.

According to the company, the existing grocery ecosystem in Latin America represents a $325 billion opportunity. Prior to the pandemic, adoption of online grocery stores was 1 percent in a competitive market full of big players, Weder said. The pandemic allowed the company to grow fast, earning 16 times its revenue in 2020 compared with 2019, he added. In July 2020, Cornershop, acquired by Uber in 2019, was reported by Statista as the most funded online supermarket with headquarters in Latin America. It attracted known investments of nearly $32 million, according to Crunchbase data.

“Our vision is to transform the industry using technology, data and fair practices so that it will be more agile and inclusive,” Weder added. “Jüsto was the first online grocer and first to not use plastic bags. We want to help users make better decisions so that they can save money and have alternatives. I’m really proud of what we have performed facing such a complex industry.”

As part of the transaction, General Atlantic executives Luis Cervantes, managing director and head of its Mexico City office, and Zeev Thepris, vice president, will join Justo’s board of directors.

“Mexico is at an inflection point in its transition to a digital economy, and we see Jüsto as leading the way in the high-growth online grocery space with its technology-centric, mission-driven approach,” Cervantes said in a written statement. “Under Ricardo’s leadership, we believe Jüsto is positioned for significant expansion as it disrupts and transforms the legacy grocery value chain.”

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias