Multinational company Kavak is leaving Colombia and Peru
Multinational company Kavak is leaving Colombia and Peru, according to an official statement from the company.
The used car buying and selling company, Kavak, has announced an indefinite pause in its operations in Peru and Colombia.
Kavak is leaving Colombia and Peru as of the first day of 2024, according to the company’s statement.
The company has decided to “indefinitely pause” its operations in these Latin American countries after evaluating its opportunities in the markets it has expanded into, taking into account the global and local macroeconomic context and prospects for the coming months.
“In both cases, it has been a period of significant learning that we have been able to implement on a larger scale in other places where we operate. However, in line with our vision and goals, we will focus our efforts on more profitable and higher-growth markets,” reads the brief statement signed by Kavak.
Company Kavak is leaving Colombia and Peru
Kavak is leaving Colombia and Peru but will continue until it completes all ongoing transactions it has with its customers, as well as commitments to its suppliers and the fate of its teams.
Just in May 2023, the online used car buying and selling company opened a vehicle reconditioning plant in Colombia after Carlos García, Kavak’s founder and CEO, announced staff layoffs in line with other startups in the region.
In July 2022, the company announced its expansion into three Latin American countries: Chile, Peru, and Colombia, and confirmed its arrival in Turkey.
Therefore, this retraction contradicts its expansion as it had started trading used vehicles in the Asian continent.
Kavak became the first Mexican startup to achieve unicorn status in September 2020, with a valuation of over 1 billion dollars.
Less than a year later, following a $700 million investment round led by General Catalyst and joined by Tiger, Spruce House, D1, SEA, Founders Fund, Ribbit, and the Japanese giant SoftBank, the company became the second most valuable startup in Latin America, after the Brazilian neobank Nubank, with a valuation of 8.7 billion dollars.
Kavak was founded in 2016 by Carlos García Ottati, Roger Laughlin, and Loreanne García. Kavak has become one of the early startups to achieve internationalization.
In January 2021, the company announced its arrival in Brazil with a $500 million investment.
Also read: Mexico’s economy continues to expand.
