a16z, Monashees lead new round into inventory discovery startup Inventa

Inventa, a Brazil-based company offering a digital marketplace for small and medium-sized companies to discover and purchase new inventory, raised $20 million in Series A funding.

Andreessen Horowitz and Monashees co-led the round and were joined by Founders Fund, Greenoaks, Greylock, Tiger Global and angel investors Hans Tung and Carlos Gracia from Kavak. Also participating in the round were existing investors Pear VC, NXTP, ONEVC, MAYA Capital and Alter Global.

This fresh infusion of capital comes three months after the company announced $5.5 million in seed funding. And all of that for a company that started in March 2021.

CEO Marcos Salama founded the company with former General Atlantic investor Laura Camargo and former McKinsey data science expert Fernando Carrasco to provide technology, data and credit to Brazilian entrepreneurs.

Salama, who is from Spain, has a background in mechanical engineering and has worked for both McKinsey and Rappi, which is how he made his way to Brazil. While leading Rappi’s groceries business, he worked with retailers and saw how small stores were struggling to access an assortment of goods and credit.

Inventa uses technology to provide an easier purchasing process for small businesses. Inventa’s online platform recommends products based on actual transaction data and provides credit, in 30-, 60- and 90-day increments, to retailers. There is also a supplier side, where they can upload products, manage pricing and see what is selling and what isn’t.

One of the drivers for going after additional funding so soon was that Inventa is growing at over 100% month over month.

“There are 5 million entrepreneurs who have small stores in Brazil that Inventa is targeting,” Salama said. “Our B2B marketplace connects brands and small retailers to help them with assortment in the areas of cosmetics, healthy food and home decor. They can also see what is trending, which makes recommendations more useful.”

The company offers over 7,000 products from 400 brands and has amassed more than 20,000 customers.

The new funding will enable Inventa to invest in its technology team — much of its 100-person workforce is in engineering — and to build its sales and marketing teams. Salama expects to grow massively in the employee area with a goal of adding another 400 people in the next few years.

He also plans to grow its brands to 10,000 as Inventa goes deeper into the cosmetics, healthy foods and home decor verticals. In addition, the company will focus on its technology development so that it can eventually offer a free software product for small suppliers and retailers.

“Amazon, MercadoLibre and Rappi are catering to the business-to-consumer world, but in B2B, there are much less companies targeting this market,” Salama said. “It is large, but there are no solutions, so we are ready to serve them.”