MercadoLibre, an Argentinian e-commerce company headquartered in Uruguay and the most valuable company in Latin America, will increase its investments in Brazil by 48% in the local currency in 2025.
The company said the 34bn reais ($5.8bn) investment will go towards expanding the logistics network, increasing technology for e-commerce and fintech, loyalty programmes, entertainment initiatives and more.
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The company said the investment plan will create 14,000 jobs, bringing its total number of employees in the country to 50,000 by the end of the year.
It is a record investment for MercadoLibre in Brazil, where it has been increasing investments for the past eight years. In 2018, the company invested $1bn reais (181.18bn pesos) in Brazil, which represents half of its market. Mexico and Argentina are its second and third most important markets, although the company has 100 million annual customers in 18 Latin American countries.
The announcement was made by MercadoLibre’s senior vice-president of commerce and Brazil lead, Fernando Yunes, at an event attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at one of the company’s distributions centres in Sao Paulo. Brazil’s Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, Minister of Labour, Luiz Marinho, and Minister of Entrepreneurship, Marcio Franca, also attended the ceremony.
“The Brazilian market is one of the most competitive in the world in e-commerce. Therefore, this investment is to help continue growing the logistical and tech sector, and to innovate faster and faster,” Yunes said.
Lula also gave a speech, during which he celebrated the return of private investments to Brazil and the country’s economic rebound capacity.
