Alima aims to develop the perishable food supply chain in Latin America

Alima, a Mexican supply chain startup, has raised $1.5 million in new funding to continue developing data-driven tools for businesses to source the products they need and have them delivered directly.< /p>

The current procurement process in Latin America is complicated and expensive, co-founder and CEO Jorge Vizcayno told TechCrunch. He explained that restaurants, hotels and catering businesses usually have to travel to crowded markets, negotiate with multiple vendors, check product quality and arrange transport, often resulting in hours of driving to pick them up. themselves.

On the other hand, farmers and distributors face uncertainty about the quality of their products once they leave their facilities, whether they have enough to meet demand. and if they get a fair price.

The fresh produce market in Mexico is expected to grow by $4 billion over the next four years. Vizcayno and co-founder Blanca Espinosa launched Alima in June 2021 to help address these issues in anticipation of this growth.

Vizcayno has a background in mechatronics engineering, machine learning, and data science. He co-founded Tuibo, a smart wearable device for cyclists, and was the former chief technology officer of Byprice, a comparison shopping platform in Mexico, before forming Alima. Espinosa, who is Alima's chief marketing officer, previously held growth and marketing positions at Coca-Cola FEMSA, Amazon and Uber.

Alima's platform digitizes and optimizes sourcing, transportation and traceability using artificial intelligence and analytics integration so less food goes to waste. Now, instead of going to the market every morning, businesses can order items until 10 p.m. and have it delivered to their stores before 7:00 a.m.

The company currently offers 800 product SKUs, but Espinosa says Alima is willing to do its homework for customers so they don't have to go to more than one location to find items.

Alima Product Supply Chain

"Our philosophy is that if we don't have it, we'll find it," she said. “If a gourmet restaurant needs something specialized, we look for a good supplier. It takes less than three days in some cases to find what they want, and then we have it. This agility in our catalog and our SKUs is something we have never seen before."

Features also include tax invoices, payments, payment and expense tracking. For farmers and distributors, this method reduces the number of "links" in the supply chain and provides better price transparency.

Vizcayno calls Frubana, a Colombian company connecting restaurants to suppliers, Alima's closest competitor. However, instead of being a "one-stop-shop" as Frubana describes itself, Alima focuses solely on the supply chain niche.

“We are aiming for full vertical integration,” he said. "This is only possible by focusing on one category and extending the value proposition across multiple distribution channels."

Now with $1.5 million in new funding, the company will be able to expand its operations. The funding was led by Soma Capital, Y Combinator (the company was part of the Winter 22 batch), The Dorm Room Fund, Seed9, Pareto and a group of angel investors.

Alima has grown its revenue 10x since January and continues to grow by double digits every month. It currently works with 600 clients, and Vizcayno expects to nearly triple the number of clients by the start of the year.

The business started last year with restaurants and hotels and now expands to schools, hospitals and CPG factories; plans include retail...