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Mexico’s economic development – boosted by the amount of transportation to nearby areas in recent years – has made it fertile ground for startups. But this trend is under threat if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his idea Take a tougher stance on trade with Mexico.
But Jaime Tabachnick, co-founder and CEO of Mexican trucking financing startup Solvento, isn’t too worried. “Mexico is the best trading partner for the United States geographically, economically and logistically,” he told TechCrunch in a recent interview. But even if the relationship worsens, he says, Mexico’s growing economy is big enough for his company to grow.
“The market within Mexico, with our ports, is still big enough to build something very big and giant,” he said. “We certainly rejoice in the amazing U.S.-Mexico trade partnership and the continued prosperity of that, because it is an incredible tailwind for us, but we don’t depend on it to thrive.”
Tabachnick shared this perspective when his company closed a $12.5 million Series A funding round, which was led by venture capital firm Cometa and included existing investors such as Austin, Texas-based Ironspring Ventures.
The company, founded in 2021, provides modern financial services to trucking companies in Mexico, often replacing the more unsavory lenders that small Mexican businesses have had to rely on in the past, Tabachnick said. Solvento offers invoice financing, automated payments and its products in general increase transparency and liquidity in the trucking sector, he said.
Tabachnick said Solvento hopes to use the funding to grow from its current customer base of about 500 airlines to 5,000 by the end of 2025. Scale is key because Tabachnick said he believes this financial segment of the transportation market is a “winner takes most” situation.
“We need to act quickly,” he added.
Along that growth path, Tabachnick said he wants to add new products like fuel cards and start offering credit to businesses to purchase trucks. It is also launching a freight insights platform that leverages the millions of invoices it has handled to date, which shippers and carriers can use to compare trucking rates across the country.
To do some of this, Tabachnick said Solvento has successfully won over some banks that were previously reluctant to embrace this market, and has struck partnerships with new entrants to Mexico like Uber Freight.
“If we help (customers) add new assets and more trucks to their fleets, it will help them generate more revenue, more bills will be discounted, and they will consume more fuel. So the flywheel starts turning, as well as expanding the offer Fundamental, is what we believe is an amazingly positioned setup for our B Series.
“We live in an age where I think ‘proximity to the beach’ has been the buzzword in the last year or two, right?” Tabachnick said. “But it’s true.”
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