Chile's Lokal raises $700K seed to bring AI to corner-store sourcing
What's the deal? Lokal, a Chilean B2B marketplace founded in 2022, has raised a $700,000 seed round led by Invexor Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → through its Discovery II fund. The deal leaves cofounders Nicolás Sarquis, Alberto Morelli, and Gabriel Lyon with more than 75% of the company.
What does Lokal do? The platform lets shops, minimarkets, and pharmacies buy from multiple suppliers in one place, offering credit to finance orders and guaranteeing payment to brands. It connects more than 500 suppliers with 3,500 stores across roughly 260 Chilean communes.
By the numbers: Lokal posted $4 million in revenue in 2025, running at an annualised pace near $5 million. Before this round, it went through Platanus VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and raised $100,000 in 2022.
What's the endgame? The nine-person startup plans to grow its team, expand nationally, and reach more than 100,000 small merchants. It will also build an AI tool that recommends what to buy, in what quantity, and when to restock.
"If the future of commerce is local, the best tools also have to be for them," said cofounder Nicolás Sarquis (translated from Spanish).
The signal: Corner stores account for about half of consumer sales in Latin America, but only a fraction runs through digital channels. Lokal is part of a new wave of B2B marketplaces — competing with players like Colombia's Chiper — betting on AI to digitise a task that eats into shopkeepers' time.
Read more: Startups Latam
Image credit: Lokal
