MercadoLibre opened a new distribution center in Mexico, doubling down on its plans to reinforce e-commerce logistics in the country.

With 35,000m2, the new facility is located in Umán, Yucatán, and is expected to serve more than 3,000 sellers in the region and to generate around 800 direct jobs in the medium term.

The distribution center is MercadoLibre’s seventh in southeast Mexico. The company says it has invested US$1.6bn in the country this year, which includes the new facility.

“We do anticipate some incremental investments when we look at 2023 versus 2022 in terms of capex, primarily on the logistics front, as we build incremental capacity that we’re needing in some markets, primarily in Mexico,” CFO Pedro Arnt told investors in an earnings call in February.

Mexico was the country with the highest growth in items sold through MercadoLibre in Q1, at 29% year-on-year. 

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May’s funding volume of LatAm startups plummeted 81% year-over-year and 42% over April to only US$252mn, according to the SlingHub platform’s monthly tracking.

In number of deals, 70 rounds were tracked in the month, a drop of 36% on May 2022, according to the platform. The most common rounds were seed, with 20.

Brazil (US$115mn), Mexico (US$77.8mn) and Peru (US$25mn) led in funding, said SlingHub.

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According to TTR Data, Latin America saw 1,102 M&A, VC, asset acquisition and private equity deals in January-May, down 30% over the same period 2022. The monthly tracker is supported by Datasite.

Total disclosed value in the period was US$30.0bn, down 35%. In May alone, there were 196 deals worth a disclosed US$5.17bn, said TTR.

Brazil leads in number of deals with 673 in January-May, down by 19%, followed by Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. 

The deal of the month for TTR was Aligned Data Centers’ acquisition of Odata.

Source: Business News Americas / BN Americas - Chile