Mexico’s economic development — turbocharged by the amount of nearshoring in recent years — has made it fertile ground for startups. But the trend is under threat if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his idea of taking a harder line on trade with Mexico.
Jaime Tabachnik, co-founder and CEO of Mexican trucking finance startup Solvento, isn’t too worried, though. “Mexico is the best trade partner, geographically, economically, logistically” to the U.S., he told TechCrunch in a recent interview. But even if the relationship sours, he said, Mexico’s growing economy is big enough for his company to grow.“The market intra-Mexico, and with our ports, is still big enough for us to build something very big and gigantic,” he said. “We definitely are cheering for an incredible trade partnership between the U.S. and Mexico and [for] that to continue thriving, because it’s an incredible tailwind for us, but we’re not dependent upon it to thrive.”
Tabachnik shared this perspective as his company closed its $12.5 million Series A funding round, which was led by venture capital firm Cometa, and included existing investors like Austin, Texas-based Ironspring Ventures.
The firm, founded in 2021, provides modern financial services to trucking companies in Mexico, often taking the place of more unsavory lenders that small Mexican businesses have had to rely on in the past, Tabachnik said. Solvento offers invoice financing, automated payments, and its products in general increase transparency and liquidity in the trucking sector, he said.
Solvento hopes to use the funding to grow from a current customer base of around 500 carriers to 5,000 by the end of 2025, Tabachnik said. Scale is key because Tabachnik said he thinks this financial slice of the transportation ma …