LatAm-Chinese startup Pandas raised $6.3M in venture funding, the largest pre-seed in the Latin America region, led by Third Kind Venture Capital and followed by Acequia Capital, Picus Capital, Tekton Ventures, Partech, K50 Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, and Gaingels. Among the angel investors, the list includes Jose Jair Bonilla from Chiper, Man Hei and Lluís Cañadell from Treinta, Pablo Viguera from Belvo, Alfonso de los Rios from Nowports, Sujay Tyle from Merama, Tono Mandly from Riogrande, Juan Carlos Narvaez from Tul, Gonzalo Manrique from Ironhack, Gerry Giacomán from Clara, Daniel Bilbao from Truora, Francisco Jassir from Farmu among others.
Pandas focuses on offering Asian-origin inventory to micro-businesses in Latin America. The startup connects this $190B market directly with Asian manufacturers, significantly reducing the high fees and logistical problems imposed by importers and intermediaries. The capital will be used to scale operations, further develop the Pandas platform, and accelerate talent acquisition.
“One of the keys to Pandas’ success is the digitalization of an industry that has traditionally worked manually and inefficiently”, says Co-Founder Marcos Esteril.
Over the next twelve months, Pandas plans to provide a comprehensive suite of Fintech and analytics solutions, offering small- and micro-businesses seamless access to better financial tools and financing. This will enable previously unbanked, but highly qualified merchants in the region, to obtain access to resources that otherwise would be inaccessible.
“We have seen similar problems in Asia 5-10 years ago, and giants like Alibaba and Udaan emerged to solve this. We believe Pandas can help solve the same problems across LatAm, but we need to adapt our approach to the region’s specific needs”, says Co-Founder Rio Xin.
Headquartered in Colombia with an additional office in China, founders Rio Xin and Marcos Esteril have a proven track record in startups, international trade, and consulting (having led teams at Treinta, export businesses, and McKinsey).