The Brazilian e-commerce platform that quietly dominated Latin America while Shopify and Salesforce fought over the US. VTEX powers Walmart Brazil, Carrefour, and Sony's online stores — and has been doing it since 2000, which makes it older than Shopify. The IPO at $8 billion was the peak. The stock has dropped as US expansion proved harder than expected. But VTEX's composable architecture and marketplace capabilities give it a genuine differentiation that Shopify doesn't offer at the enterprise level.
Founded
2000
HQ
São Paulo, Brazil / New York, NY
Total Raised
$365M (IPO in 2021)
Founder
Geraldo Thomaz, Mariano Gomide de Faria
Status
Public (NYSE: VTEX) — market cap approximately $1.5 billion
Website
www.vtex.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Geraldo Thomaz and Mariano Gomide de Faria started VTEX in 2000 in Rio de Janeiro — during the dot-com bust. For 15 years, they quietly built an e-commerce platform that dominated Brazil.
While Shopify targeted small merchants and Salesforce targeted US enterprises, VTEX focused on large Latin American retailers who needed multi-language, multi-currency, multi-marketplace capabilities. The platform became the default choice for enterprise e-commerce in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Enterprise e-commerce platform for large retailers and brands — essentially the Shopify for billion-dollar companies. VTEX provides a composable commerce platform that powers online stores, marketplace operations, and order management for major retailers across Latin America and globally.
Revenue comes from SaaS subscriptions and a percentage of gross merchandise value (GMV) processed through the platform. Customers include Walmart (Brazil), Whirlpool, Sony, Carrefour, and AB InBev.
THE PRODUCTS
VTEX Commerce Platform (enterprise e-commerce), VTEX Marketplace (marketplace-as-a-service for retailers), VTEX Order Management (OMS for omnichannel fulfillment), VTEX IO (developer platform for building custom commerce apps), and VTEX Live Shopping (livestream commerce integration).
HOW THEY GREW
Composable commerce and US expansion. VTEX positions itself as a "composable" platform — customers can use VTEX for the full stack or plug individual components (checkout, order management, marketplace) into existing systems.
This flexibility appeals to large enterprises with complex needs. US expansion through partnerships with agencies and system integrators is the primary growth lever.
The marketplace-as-a-service capability lets retailers launch their own marketplace (like Amazon) on VTEX infrastructure.
THE HARD PART
Competing with Shopify (moving upmarket) and Salesforce Commerce Cloud (dominant in US enterprise). VTEX's strength in Latin America hasn't translated to equal traction in the US and Europe.
The stock has dropped significantly from its 2021 IPO peak as growth decelerated. Enterprise sales cycles are long, and convincing US retailers to choose a Brazilian-born platform over Shopify Plus or Salesforce requires overcoming brand perception bias.
MONEY TRAIL
Series D
2019 · Led by SoftBank Latin America Fund
$140M raised
Series E
2020 · Led by Lone Pine Capital, Tiger Global
$225M raised
IPO
2021 · Led by NYSE public offering
$365M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
SoftBank Latin America Fund, Lone Pine Capital, Tiger Global, Riverwood Capital, and Gavea Investimentos backed VTEX.
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