Tul, mobile application focused on the sale and distribution of materials for the construction, will strengthen its presence in Mexico, after having completed an investment round for 181 million dollars.
This firm focuses on the creation of hardware inventories and currently has more than 20,000 products in its application from more than 500 brands. In Mexico, it has achieved monthly growth of 40% and in just 10 months of operation in the country it has served more than 3,000 hardware stores Y tlapalerías.
According to the company, this round of its B series was led by Avenir Growth Capital based in New York and by 8VC Based in Austin, Texas, it also had the participation of firms such as Monashees, Lightrock, Coatue, Tiger Global, SoftBank, Foundamental, Vine, Marathon Labs and H20.
In March 2020, Tul began operations and later moved its operations to Ecuador and Mexico, where it has two distribution centers, including its largest logistics center on the continent with more than 12,000 square meters, which is located in Tlanepantla, State of Mexico. , and for which it has coverage in the Valley of Mexico and the metropolitan area of Guadalajara.
“We have generated a series of verticals focused on allowing the hardware store to diversify its income streams with services such as the granting of microcredits to its clients for home improvement, the sale of insurance, the rental of equipment, among others. All this, focusing on turn the hardware store and tlapalero into an entrepreneur who promotes the development of his neighborhood, “commented Andrés Ramírez, director of Expansion, Communications and Public Affairs of Tul.
According to Ramírez, Tul’s rapid growth is based on the fact that the platform has made digital solutions available to a segment where there were no tools of this type, so its intention is to accelerate the issue of digitization to dedicated people, for example, to the hardware store.
Part of Tul’s strategy is to establish alliances with leaders in the field of construction materials such as Cemex, Gerdau Corsa, Mexalit, Arcelormittal Sicartsa, Sika, Amanco Wavin, Deacero, Urrea, Y groove, among others.
In addition, it has established agreements with the government in order to promote the integral development of the hardware store and the tlapalero, their formalization and social responsibility initiatives in their communities of interest and sustainability plans in the operation of the firm.
In Mexico, the firm plans to allocate more than 23 million dollars in investment during 2022, which will allow it to expand its presence in the country, with the opening of operations in Toluca and Puebla, in addition to creating a second logistics center in Iztapalapa. In 2021, the firm invested more than 20 million dollars in the country after its arrival there.
“The Latin American building materials supply chain has historically neglected the neighborhood hardware store and we strongly believe that Tul’s technology platform will change this forever by leveraging data never seen before in this deeply analog industry,” said Jamie Reynolds, Founding Partner. from Avenir Growth Capital.
By 2022 and next year, the firm plans to reach more Latin American countries such as Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, in addition to having a greater impact on at least 10,000 new hardware stores in the countries where it currently operates; in Mexico, it plans to reach 3,500 new hardware stores, thus completing the 20,000 in Latin America.
econohabitat@eleconomista.mx