Uruguay's leading eCommerce platform for retailers, Fenicio, recently incorporated Quantik Group as a partner to strengthen its capabilities and accelerate its international expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Quantik is a synergic group of companies(Isbel, Synapsis and Qubox) focused on information and communication technologies. With 40 years of experience, the group operates from Uruguay to Latin America and the rest of the world and provides solutions to customers in more than 20 countries, with a staff of more than 600 collaborators.
For Fenicio, the incorporation of Quantik to the company's shareholding seeks to strengthen its management capabilities through the experience of the new partner, as well as to professionalize its internal structure. The objective is to consolidate its current position in the local market and to execute its expansion plan in Latin America and the Caribbean with greater dynamism.
From Quantik's point of view, this participation is part of its process of diversification of business solutions in software as a service (SaaS) mode from the cloud. They also welcome the integrations that a platform such as Fenicio can have with the products and services offered by the group's companies to their customers.
According to Leonardo Álvarez, co-founding partner of Fenicio, "Quantik's proposal is 100% aligned with the objectives of the founding partners: to professionalize Fenicio in order to continue growing in the local market, where we seek to strengthen the company's current position, as well as to promote and consolidate growth in Latin America and the Caribbean".
A key factor
For Rafael Staricco, CEO of Quantik, there was a key factor along the way: trust. For the leader: "Beyond the potential of the alliance from the business point of view, the investment decision was influenced by the excellent bond of trust that was generated from the first conversations".
Staricco also said: "At Quantik we have a very fluid relationship among the partners and with the whole team in general, and we believe that with Fenicio we will speak the same language". "The desire to grow and think big, humility, professionalism, teamwork and strong ethical values are some of the coincidences that came to light in the process, which gives us a lot of peace of mind for what is to come", he added.
The dialogue between the companies began in 2019. Since then, after a process of almost two years, which included several commercial and legal negotiations, in November 2021 the share sale and purchase was formally closed.
According to Álvarez, the priority was always "not to rush the process, but to be sure that things were being done with the best interests of the company in mind". In Staricco's words: "The process was extremely healthy, transparent and with a very good vibe. We share great similarities in practice, professionalism and strong values".
Favorable context and complementary strengths
Quantik's moment of diversification has led the group to invest in new strategies and technological trends. One of them is SaaS solutions with internationalization potential, the core of Fenicio's business. In addition, the eCommerce platform has a high potential for international growth, which increased during the pandemic.
Fenicio's team grew very fast (doubling its staff in one year) and new needs arose, such as formalizing processes and organizing internal management.
The combination of this context, Fenicio's challenges, the complementary strengths of each company, the pre-existing bond between the leaders, the similar corporate values and the shared vision between the boards of directors about the future resulted in the incorporation of Quantik to Fenicio's shareholding package.
In particular, the first steps of the alliance will focus on building a strategic vision, strengthening financial management and organizational structure. Quantik will also support Fenicio in generating internationalization and leadership development plans, with the objective of scaling the business.
Transforming for the better
"At the genesis of Fenicio is 'change for the better'. We want to take advantage of the new partner's experience to organize and manage growth, but without losing what brought us here," said Álvarez.
The eCommerce platform partner also noted that "the addition of Quantik is a message to all our customers that Fenicio is a dynamic company that seeks to continue to grow in all aspects. We set no limits for ourselves; one more point of connection with Quantik".
In this line, Staricco highlighted: "The idea is to preserve Fenicio's entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, and in particular their excellent competences as a product company focused on the eCommerce niche. They are really good at helping their customers in making this channel a real sales channel."
Regarding Quantik's role, the CEO said: "Our role will be to help organize management to accelerate growth, which implies the implementation of processes, management systems and, above all, a strong focus on talent and leadership development, among others.
