Zubale raises US$4.4 million to expand collaborative marketing platform

Contxto – To connect brands with affordable on-the-ground marketing, Zubale from Mexico City is putting people to work as ambassadors. Rather than laboring in an office, though, the only tool these “zubaleros” need for success is a smartphone.

Motivated to connect world-famous companies to Latin American markets, Zubale recently raised a US$4.4 million investment round led by NFX due to its market background. Other participating firms were Industry Ventures, Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures, as well as XFactor Fund.

Individual investors also included the chairman of Thumbtack, Jonathan Swanson, Grow Mobility CEO, Sergio Romo, in addition to the founder and former managing director of Bain Capital, Bob White.

Eventually, the startup plans to expand out of Mexico and into Brazil, Chile, as well as Peru. Moreover, Zubale may start offering financial services to contractors. 

Collaborative economy 

Through a task-based collaborative business model, Zubale has devised a scheme where users (known as zubaleros) perform on-the-ground marketing. 

Whether in terms of verifying prices at retail locations and points of sales, testing out products, or conducting market research, there is a variety of crowdsourced assignments available over the platform. 

In exchange for performing these duties, zubaleros earn mobile credits or other redeemable digital awards through Zubale partners.

For affiliates, this arrangement helps them save resources by outsourcing to freelancers rather than forming separate marketing teams. Throughout the process, they can increase sales and optimize spending, depending on the feedback they receive from ambassadors. 

Ultimately, this allows clients to make better business decisions in emerging markets, particularly Latin America.

So far, this business is only active in Mexico where zubaleros can allegedly increase their income by 40 percent through the platform. Since 85 percent of Mexico’s population has a smartphone, users complete an average of 20 jobs per week. Jobs reportedly take about a half-hour to fulfill. 

In the region alone, the retail industry is worth over US$2 trillion a year.

Fast growth 

When Zubale presented at the fifth-annual demo day with the early seed-stage investment firm Pear, it only had 10 employees after less than a month of operations. Fast forward today and it has secured over 40 full-timers.

Many people are benefiting from Zubale’s collaborative economy model, according to co-founder Allison Campbell. Alongside Sebastian Monroy, they hope to continue revolutionizing retail in Latin America. So far, independent contractors have reportedly completed over 170,000 tasks.

Together, both Campbell and Monroy have more than 15 years of combined experience developing and selling consumer products for Walmart and Procter & Gamble. 

From March 30 to March 31, Zubale will represent Mexico with 10 other startups for the eMerge Americas Startup Showcase in Miami. This will be an opportunity for Mexican startups to network with potential investors as well as accelerate growth. Over 4,000 companies and 16,000 guests are expected to attend.

-JA