ImpactAlpha, January 12 – Bogotá-based Tul helps Colombia’s mom-and-pop hardware stores source products from large construction suppliers like ArcelorMittal and Cemex. It launched in early 2020 to create localized versions of Home Depot or Lowe’s, says founder Enrique Villamarin, and “enable the smallest business in the most remote regions—who are serving as pillars in their community—to be able to order products, manage their inventory, and open up other streams of revenue.”
8VC and Avenir led Tul’s $181 million Series B round with backing from Monashees, Tiger Global and others. The financing will support Tul’s expansion to Brazil where the company says 600,000 locally-owned hardware stores account for half of all hardware sales.
Tul currently operates in five cities in Colombia and several cities in Ecuador and Mexico.
Trend-setting
Tul’s $4 million raise in late 2020 signaled last year’s flood of small-business digitization deals. Its new round is the latest in a stream of big-ticket digitalization deals.
