Mercado Libre Acquires Logistics Startup Kangu

Brazilian eCommerce giant, Mercado Libre, has acquired fast-growing logistics firm, Kangu, in an effort to expand its delivery operations in Latin America. In 2020, Kangu registered a 100 percent year-on-year growth in its revenue.

While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, all of Kangu’s 5000 delivery points which includes 700 cities in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, will become part of Mercado Libre’s logistics network. The São Paulo-based company will, however, continue to operate independently and be managed by its co-CEOs, Marcelo Guarnieri and Ricardo Araujo.

“The transaction will increase operation efficiency … while allowing us to focus on delivering to Brazilian clients as quickly as possible,” said Renato Pereira, Mercado Libre ‘s director of corporate development.

The acquisition comes nearly five months after Mercado Libre announced plans to invest $740 million to enhance its logistics operations in the Brazilian market. Last year, the company’s logistics arm delivered nearly 650 million packages, up from 306 million the year before. The company’s growing logistics business will reportedly include eight distribution centers, 18 cross-docking centers and over 100 last-mile delivery centers in Brazil by the end of this year.

In July, the company formed a partnership to enable BigCommerce merchants to sell across the Latin American market and expand their reach to nearly 133 million unique shoppers on Mercado Libre’s Marketplace.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on August 30, 2021.