By Ty Findley, Co-Founder & General Partner
In recent years, Mexico has grabbed headlines in the industrials world as both a rising manufacturing powerhouse and a key trade partner to the US. As evident in 2023, Mexico actually became the US’ largest trade partner, beating out China for the top spot. Associated directly to that but getting less attention, however, is the country’s booming construction industry which contributes 6-8% to GDP and is poised for dramatic growth to support the infrastructure needed to sustain the significant US nearshoring wave that we’ve seen of late in recent years (and which is only accelerating with the new tariffs). In a country with increased demands on its manufacturing and industrial economy, the built world (facilities, water, and electricity infrastructure in particular) will need to keep up with construction, driving even greater activity across Mexico’s ~$340B domestic construction industry (already a major sector in a country of 130M people with a GDP of $1.8T).
In the midst of this sizeable market, local and regional construction builders struggle with how to get the building materials they need to complete their projects. For builders, inefficient and offline procurement processes often lack price transparency and visibility into when and where materials will arrive, leading to costly budget overruns. When making purchases, Mexican SMBs in the construction industry can also suffer from cash crunches due to the significant working capital required to kick off work on jobsites, limiting their ability to buy materials and take on new projects. In fact, SMBs account for 68% of national employment and drive 52% of GDP in the country, yet these companies struggle with adequate access to capital to run their businesses reliably. And when it comes to accessing credit, traditional institutional lenders are often hesitant to underwrite the majority of builders given limited understanding of construction industry operating nuances, insufficient data, and minimal connectivity across the industry to conduct necessary diligence.
For building materials suppliers, larger distributors face challenges in attracting and maintaining a stable client base that will consistently pay on time. The broader lack of digital traceability and business accountability leads to a dearth of trust in doing business beyond certain geographical areas where deep relationships have been established over many years. Additionally, these suppliers often oversee large operations with vast SKU catalogues that are managed through cumbersome manual processes. Supporting these demanding relationships and keeping track of a multitude of products are pressures that can interfere with productive sales cycles, sound inventory management, and fast delivery service.
Enter Mango, a construction management fintech platform enabling more seamless trade between builders and suppliers in Mexico. Through Mango, stakeholders in the Mexican construction ecosystem can manage the entire building materials procurement process along with access competitive loans, facilitating smoother transactions and forging stronger relationships/trust between builders and suppliers. For builders, the Mango platform offers the ability to initiate a new purchase and obtain financing plus visibility on the transaction’s progress and a helpful payment tracker to ensure payment deadlines are met (with late fees avoided). For suppliers, Mango provides digital connection, traceability, and accountability to well capitalized builders along with comprehensive analytics on orders in process and expected payments. With Mango, the builder pool of buyers is expanded far beyond a supplier’s current geography. And critically, Mango provides its value as a trusted, neutral party that enables payment efficiency without acting as an intermediary in the purchasing process.
In short, Mango enables suppliers to do business with builders who otherwise would not be deemed creditworthy, helping systematize trust in the construction ecosystem. With Mango, both builders and suppliers can execute commercial transactions with greater trust and transparency, resulting in more work completed, more reliable revenue streams, stronger relationships, and ultimately, more of the buildings and infrastructure Mexico needs. Ironspring Ventures is excited to lead Mango’s $3M Seed round with support from great allies at Brick & Mortar Ventures, Great North Ventures, and Incisive VC. More importantly, we are excited to support Co-Founders Sergio Angelini, Luis Morales, and Patricio Naumann along with their team in the mission to advance Mexico’s construction industry through modernized procurement, improved communication, and enhanced project management tools.
And we’re not the only ones bullish on Mango and the impact this novel technology will have for the Mexican construction industry – BBVA, Mexico’s largest bank, established a large credit facility with Mango concurrent with this Seed round, and Jaime Tabachnik, Co-Founder & CEO of Solvento, a peer Ironspring portfolio company also based in Mexico and serving the Mexican credit market in the adjacent transportation industry, has signed on as an angel investor and strategic advisor to the company. Having both the country’s top financial institution and one of its leading startup CEOs backing Mango is a tremendous endorsement of the team, product, and market opportunity.
Mango Co-founders CTO Patricio Naumann, COO Luis Morales, and CEO Sergio Angelini (left to right)
Mango was co-founded by Angelini (CEO), Morales (COO), and Naumann (CTO), a powerhouse trio that brings rich insight into and passion for the construction industry from family history in construction in addition to strong, complementary skills and expertise in their respective domains. In Mexican construction, “old school” boots on the ground exposure along with a deep network of relationships across stakeholder groups is essential to build trust, gain traction, and sustain a commercial flywheel. The Mango team has just the right blend of experience and connectivity required to win in this market – along with a bold product roadmap – that make this company one to watch as Mexico’s broader industrial boom continues.
We’re excited to partner with Sergio and team to expand a transformative platform that will enable the construction of more (and better) physical infrastructure across Mexico at a pivotal moment for the country’s industrial future.
Visit the Mango website: mangxo.com
