Argentina’s Ualá purchases e-commerce platform Empretienda
Argentine fintech firm Ualá has bought the Empretienda e-commerce platform, its chief executive confirmed.
Argentine fintech Ualá has bought the Empretienda e-commerce platform, its chief executive, Pierpaolo Barbieri, has confirmed in a phone interview.
Barbieri declined to disclose the amount of the purchase.
Empretienda, which operates in Argentina with more than 120,000 merchants and increases the number by about 6,000 a month, is a platform that allows small merchants to create a web shop to sell online.
The purchase will allow "full integration" of the platform with Ualá's Bis payment services.
"With the Empretienda team we feel we have such alignment and such a vision for the future of what we can build together that we are adding them to the ecosystem."
Empretienda focuses on smaller businesses than other platforms and does not charge a percentage on sales, but a monthly fee to maintain the website.
Barbieri said this purchase does not represent a move towards e-commerce.
"Our main goal is to build the best financial ecosystem. We're not doing pizza delivery or selling products. We are helping small businesses move into the digital economy. To do that, they need a shop as well as a payment mechanism," he said.
"We saw an incredible opportunity to add talent to our team. We are not actively looking for mergers and acquisitions," he added.
Ualá Bis, the company's payments vertical, accounts for about 20 percent of revenues and is expected to reach about 30 percent by the end of the year.
Empretienda's users will get three months commission-free on sales through the Ualá Bis payment method and new Empretienda users will get the first three months free on the platform.
by Carolina Millan, Bloomberg
related news
-
Five dogs and a million reds
-
Missing the point
-
Jorge Lanata: ‘President Milei has the right to speak and criticise, but not to say just anything’
-
The first ‘real world’ punch for Javier Milei
-
Stories that caught our eye: April 19 to 26
-
Top officials to meet People's Bank of China chief amid swap talks
-
Argentina to offer bonds in first step to lift currency controls
-
Omnibus bill heads to Congress, debate set for Monday or Tuesday
-
Netflix is betting big on Latin America to expand its viewership
-
Bye bye TV Pública: Telefe to broadcast Albiceleste's matches in Argentina