Colombia-headquartered hardware marketplace Tul has secured $181m in series B funding from investors including telecommunications group SoftBank, Bloomberg reported yesterday, with construction technology continuing to prosper in Latin America.
Venture capital firm 8VC led the round, which also featured Avenir Growth Capital, Coatue Management, Tiger Global Management, Monashees, Lightrock, Foundamental, Vine Ventures, Marathon Labs and H20 Venture Partners.
SoftBank took part through its Latin America Fund, Tul CEO and co-founder Enrique Villamarin told Bloomberg. The round valued it at $800m according to a source privy to the matter, and took its overall funding to almost $210m since it was founded in early 2020.
Also known as Tül, the company has built a business-to-business (B2B) stock management and invoicing app that helps some 600,000 Latin America-based hardware stores digitalise their businesses and sell hardware and building materials to construction professionals directly on the platform.
Tul has formed alliances with key construction material suppliers in the region, including Gerdau, ArcelorMittal, Ternium, Sika, Wavin, Henkel, Phillips Assa Abloy, Bosch, DeWalt, Milwaukee and Cemex.
In addition to its home country, the startup has a presence in Ecuador and Mexico, and will use the funding to expand into other Latin American markets including Brazil.
Villamarin said: “We are very excited about the opportunity for Tul to support the development of local communities in Latin America by partnering their hardware stores.
“We built this platform to 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 just as if they were a Home Depot or Lowe’s in a major American city.”
Tul received $50.1m from undisclosed investors in August 2021 according to a securities filing, 10 months after a $4m seed round led by Vine.
Other construction technology developers in Latin America to receive funding in recent months include Brazil-based construction project digitalisation service Ambar, which pulled in $36m last month.
Corporates operating in the construction sector in Latin America, such as Brazil-listed steel producer Gerdau and Mexico-headquartered building materials producer Cemex, have been looking to disrupt the space through their respective corporate venturing units: Paris Ventures and Cemex Ventures.
Gonzalo Galindo, head of Cemex Ventures, told Global Corporate Venturing in an interview for his Powerlist nomination last year that the unit seeks to identify startups that can help solve problems in the construction industry’s supply chain.
“Innovation in our industry has been lacking for many years,” Galindo said. “While other industries, like automobiles, have been quick to adapt to the digital age, construction has kept a very slow pace in the race.
“By promoting construction innovation within every significant player in the construction value chain, it will be easier to enhance its productivity parameters and technology adoption.”
Bruno Loreto, named a GCV Rising Star when he served as head of operations at Construtech Ventures – part of Brazil-based home design software provider SoftPlan Systems – in 2019, founded a construction and real estate-focused venture capital firm called Terracotta Ventures a few months after his recognition.
Terracotta Ventures is backed by Paris Ventures, according to the latter’s website. Loreto told GCV for its Brazil-themed innovative region report in 2019 that during that year “almost $250m [had] been invested in construction and real estate tech companies in 24 different startups,” with various local corporates participating in early-stage rounds.
Image courtesy of Tul SAS.
