Carey Olsen advises Colombia-based social commerce start-up Elenas on a Series B funding round

Founded in 2018, Elenas is a social commerce platform that facilitates and digitises the selling of consumer items from catalogues and door-to-door sales. Through Elenas, entrepreneurs can sell products from the comfort of home on social channels such as Facebook or WhatsApp. Elenas provides product sourcing, delivery, and payment collection capabilities and over 100,000 sellers across Mexico and Columbia have used Elenas to fulfil over 2 million orders.

Elenas estimates that 11 million women across Latin America sell consumer items via catalogues and door-to-door sales methods. The company seeks to empower these women and enable entrepreneurship opportunities across the region.

DILA Capital led the funding round with investment from several other investors.

The Carey Olsen team advising on the Cayman Islands law aspects of the funding group was led by partner Alistair Russell and supported by senior associate Emily Cornhill. The team advised Elenas alongside onshore counsel Gunderson Dettmer.

Alistair said: "Following successful Series Seed and Series A funding rounds of $2 and $6 million respectively, this latest funding of $20 million is a huge achievement and vote of confidence in Elenas. The company is rewriting the way the direct sales market works and is providing a unique solution for entrepreneurs all over Latin America. We wish them every success."

Elenas will use the funding to scale its seller network in Mexico and Colombia and to develop its core features to provide improved user experience and products.