When companies decide to enter new markets, they encounter multiple barriers, such as the need to adapt to new regulations, find reliable suppliers, reach consumers, learn their language, and understand their culture... "Most projects fall at the last mile," explains Lourdes Cuevas, CEO and founder of GüipUP, a Barcelona-based startup that aims to facilitate the internationalization process for companies.
Cuevas has extensive experience in doing so, having spent decades expanding companies she worked for in the United States into foreign countries. The last company had sent her to Barcelona to open Europe, but Brexit and the growth of the domestic market made them desist. The businesswoman decided to stay in the Catalan capital and start GüipUP here, a name that aims to Hispanize the English expression "We pop" as a metaphor for the rapid and decisive growth that companies must face when expanding.
GüipUP has analyzed all the steps that must be followed to open a new market and has standardized the processes to make them accessible to any company. All this information is collected on a platform from which international businesses can be controlled and managed autonomously, overseeing all phases of the chain. "We offer support from beginning to end," emphasizes Cuevas. It starts by assessing whether the company is ready to make the leap to a new country, then helps with expansion by providing local partners who can take care of the day-to-day.
Founded in 2018, the startup has just opened a funding round with which it aims to raise 300,000 euros and bring in venture capital. This is its second round, after one for 400,000 euros that allowed it to incorporate a new partner who provided the technology to launch its platform.
The resources it now hopes to attract must allow it to accelerate its growth, with a focus on reaching new markets. Currently, it is present in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. With a staff of ten employees, the largest team is located in the United States, the largest and most complex market to which its clients expand. Last year they invoiced 500,000 euros and foresee a similar figure for this year, taking into account that they have focused on developing their platform and have prioritized larger clients, giving up smaller ones. They have not yet registered profits.
They have about ten clients, for whom they manage 150 projects and invoice between 15 and 80 million euros. Some examples are Jamones Andrés Izquierdo, which already operated in European countries such as Denmark, Finland, and Greece, and with GüipUP has made the leap to Paraguay and Brazil; Mun Kombucha, which will begin its commercialization in the Netherlands, or Laboratorio Boniquet, which had a subsidiary in Mexico and will now launch its white label in the United States. The company profile they are looking for are those of a certain size that want to make the leap to more complex and larger markets, such as the North American one.