This investment comes after Mercado closed a $3.2m seed round in November 2019 led by LiveOak Venture Partners with participation from Schematic Ventures, Story Ventures, and Amplifier. All of the seed investors participated in this round with full support.

“What stood out to me when it came to Ironspring Ventures and Supply Chain Ventures was their character, operations mindset, and overall investment thesis,” said Rob Garrison, Mercado CEO and founder.

“This investment will allow Mercado to accelerate supporting and serving customers who are benefiting from the opportunity to transform their international supply chains - ultimately allowing them to get their products to market better, faster, and cheaper.”

Ironspring Ventures, Managing Partner, Ty Findley believes Mercado is pioneering the market towards a brighter future by shifting the focus away from solely looking at the Last Mile of supply chain operations to enhance performance, and back to the first 120 days of the lifecycle - known as the First Mile.

“Rob and the team are tailour-made for Mercado, bringing decades of direct international importing experience to help drive efficiency into the $11tr global trade market,” Findley said. “This laser focus on the First Mile of the supply chain is one of the last remaining whitespaces in supply chain visibility.”

Mercado, founded in 2018, creates solutions for importers by transforming their supply chain processes (Plan, Buy, and Move). The company's goals focus on mitigating risk and eliminating pain across the international supply chain by helping importers improve their business operations, driving greater automation, collaboration, transparency, and predictability. This ultimately ensures companies get their products to market with greater efficiency and at lower cost through leveraging the platform's 70+ procurement, ordering, and shipping features.

Mercado has seen a string of new clients join the platform since its beta launch last year, and a number of further deals are set to close in the coming months as a result of companies feeling the pressures caused by recent global events. By helping businesses digitally track, change, and manage their orders from the moment a Purchase Order is placed, Mercado is well placed to bring the world of international trade into the digital age.

“With emerging trade compliance issues, increasing duties and tariffs, and growing supply chain complexities as sourcing shifts among countries, importers need a platform to manage their goods flow in these difficult times,” Dave Anderson, Managing General Partner of Supply Chain Ventures, said. “Mercado is the choice of leading companies to avoid costly mistakes in paperwork and logistics.”

Findley hopes to help propel the business forward and showcase to companies why a First Mile platform like Mercado is necessary in a time like now.

“The current pandemic has rapidly accelerated Mercado’s customer traction as importers realise both the growing complexity associated with conducting international trade and the need for a solution to reach into the earliest phases of purchaser and supplier collaboration when a purchase order is placed,” Findley said. “Mercado does just that and more.”

Mercado is looking forward to leveraging Ironspring Ventures and Supply Chain Ventures support in addition to their existing team of investors to further optimise and advance the platform. Findley will be joining the Mercado Board of Directors alongside current board members - LiveOak Principal Mike Marcantonio and industry veteran and founder of GT Nexus John Urban.

“We now have the benefit of industry leaders who bring their experience, vision, and passion to helping us create something extraordinary for not only our customers, but the future of the supply chain industry,” Garrison said.