Merama

Merama is a Latin American e-commerce holding company that partners with leading online merchants and consumer brands, acquiring a substantial but non-controlling stake rather than buying businesses outright. Alongside the initial investment, which provides founders with partial liquidity while they retain governance and day-to-day management, Merama supplies working capital, proprietary technology and a team of operators covering marketplaces, retail, technology, marketing, operations, finance and strategy. Its stated mission is to build the largest and best group of e-commerce companies in Latin America, and it offers partner founders an option to exit three to five years out.

Growth levers Merama applies to partner brands include cross-border and multi-country expansion across Latin America and the United States with localized content and packaging, building and hosting online retail sites, performance marketing and business-intelligence work through its in-house digital marketing agency, development of complementary products and categories, working-capital and KPI-driven cost optimization (demand planning, order fulfillment, pricing), and shared business technology software.

By 2025 the company described itself as a holding company for brands rather than an e-commerce aggregator, having moved from a centralized structure with more than two dozen brands to a more independent structure focused on six larger businesses: Growth Supplements (sports nutrition, Brazil), Mercadazo (omnichannel e-commerce), Oceane (beauty), and three companies in furniture, kitchen and home, and baby products. Over the prior 18 months it sold assets in categories it no longer wished to operate in, and in 2025 it fully acquired Growth Supplements after a three-year partnership.

Founding story

Merama was founded in December 2020 by Sujay Tyle (co-founder and CEO, previously co-founder and CEO of Frontier Car Group, sold to Naspers/OLX for roughly $700 million in December 2019, and a venture partner at Balderton Capital), Felipe Delgado (previously CEO and CFO at Beetmann Energy), Olivier Scialom (previously co-founder of Mexican pet e-commerce Petsy, sold to Maskota), Renato Andrade (previously McKinsey Brazil) and Guilherme Nosralla (previously Wildlife Studios). The founders said they created the company because merchants growing quickly online lacked the means to expand internationally, obtain reliable low-cost working capital and build supporting technology. Seed capital was raised the same month the company was formed, and the first brand partnerships in Mexico and Brazil followed immediately.

Business model

Merama invests millions of dollars of equity and working capital to take a substantial minority stake in established e-commerce brands, then grows their sales and profit using shared operating teams, technology and non-dilutive capital; founders keep governance and are offered an exit option after three to five years, at prices Merama says reflect growth achieved. Returns therefore come from appreciation in the value of its brand stakes and consolidated brand revenue rather than fees.

Merama holds equity stakes in, and in some cases fully owns, consumer brands selling through marketplaces such as Amazon and Mercado Libre and their own online channels; partner-brand sales flow through the group, which was expected to exceed $100 million in 2021 and grew 30% in 2024.

Traction

Partner brands were expected to sell more than $100 million in 2021 across Mexico, Brazil and Chile, more than double the prior year, and the company was described as operating profitably. Sales grew 30% in 2024, ten percentage points below 2023 growth. The portfolio was consolidated from more than two dozen brands to six, and fully acquired Growth Supplements, described as the largest sports nutrition company in Latin America and fourth largest worldwide with annual sales above $400 million, which had grown more than tenfold during the three-year partnership. Valuation reached $1.2 billion in 2021 and was stated to remain above $1 billion in 2025.

Latest developments

In April 2025 Merama announced $215 million in new financing: a $45 million equity round from existing investors Advent International, SoftBank, Monashees, Valor Capital and Balderton Capital plus new investor Marcel Telles, founder of 3G Capital, and a $170 million revolving credit line led by BTG Pactual, Citi and Itaú, at a valuation stated to be above $1 billion. Proceeds are earmarked for working capital, brand positioning, and expanded manufacturing and logistics for its six core companies, with further M&A to be executed at the business-unit level. Merama also completed the full acquisition of Brazilian sports nutrition company Growth Supplements and is considering Mexican expansion for it. From 2025 the company said it would report growth by brand rather than group-wide.