Korb, the Chilean SME supermarket that aspires to become a unicorn
Úrsula Tiselj (33) says she has been an entrepreneur all her life. Her inclination for business, she recounts from a Korb branch in Colina, she left at age 8 when she set up a stand on the street, where she sold cakes and drinks in Florida, steps from the house of she.
“From then on I didn't stop. And since I couldn't afford it, I made an effort to get a scholarship at the university to study something related to this,” recalls the commercial engineer from UDD, who also has a postgraduate degree in international trade from the University of Chile.
In parallel, she worked as an event promoter. And she, she says, "I got super involved in the world of marketing." So, at the age of 21, he founded USH, his own agency, in which he had as clients the Chilean Security Association, Red Salud, Yapo, among others.
The first time of the company was a success and she was even recognized as Endeavor Entrepreneur 2011, Awarded 5 Sub25 Entrepreneurs of 2011 and "100 leading women" in 2013, however that same year she had a corporate setback, which left her bankrupt and with millions of debts.
He reinvented himself and in 2014 he founded a new agency on his own and without partners, he named it USH 360, alluding to the radical change of his old company. "She required a lot of work and effort, but I was not willing to give up," recalls the entrepreneur, who managed to pay off her debts.
Parallel to this, he created a factory called Stand360 that is dedicated to assembling fair stands for all kinds of events. Some of the ones he organized were Expomin, one of the largest mining fairs in the world; Expocorma, International Forestry fair organized; and it was also the official supplier of the COP 25 in Chile. "But unfortunately, it couldn't come to fruition," he recalls.
Starting to matter
During the conversation, Úrsula reflects: “An entrepreneur always has to have a business that is doing well and another for philanthropy.” In this, the one with the fairs, he was successful, he acknowledges. With what he raised there -plus the collaboration of an angel investor-, he raised $200 million and launched again.
"In 2019 I jumped into the pool with an importer of premium products and without understanding much of the business I jumped in with everything," he admits. Once again, she did it alone, without partners, and named the importer Monteverdi and at the beginning of that year she left for Europe in order to, through her, supply the large Chilean supermarket chains.
“Once inside this industry, I discovered what the world of imports was really like,” says the commercial engineer. In his experience, breaking into the distribution channels of large supermarkets “was practically impossible for an entrepreneur”.
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And he explains: “It took months to attend me and once I managed to enter a supermarket they charged me for all kinds of things such as restocking, dispatch, inventory system, and abseiling (the right to be on the shelf). I got bored". And he chose to make his own supermarket. It was the year 2020 and the Stand360 factory had been frozen as a result of the pandemic. So, he created Korb with a team of 7 people.
“It was my turn to support entrepreneurs”
Korb -which in German means basket- began as a kind of supermarket of premium European products such as pasta, drinks, wines and cheeses imported mainly from Italy. But when the social crisis and the pandemic brought shortages, she saw an opportunity.
“It occurred to me to start bringing basic supplies and in 2020 I started bringing all kinds of products from Europe.” And it expanded the merchandise: there are 100 brands ranging from detergents to children's clothing.
The brand entered Cornershop and SMEs saw an opportunity there: several approached the team to offer their products. “At first I said no, because we are supposed to be an exclusive supermarket for European brands. But then I thought that I couldn't be so inconsistent, that I had also gone through the same thing as these entrepreneurs and that I had to support them”.
Korb became a marketplace for SMEs in Chile and the world with the idea of offering different products in one place. The issue of price, she explains, was crucial: "Fair margin equals fair price."
According to his account, a three-liter German Unilever detergent costs almost nine thousand pesos, while a liter and a half container of the same product can be found for ten thousand pesos on the shelves of a traditional supermarket. "I can assure you that the largest percentage of that price goes directly to the supermarket," he stresses.
Unlike traditional marketplaces, Korb's business model works through stock: the supermarket buys the different products wholesale from SMEs and sells them individually. But there is also the consignment alternative for SMEs. That is, if the brands have excess of some products, Korb will show them on its website.
Their goal: to be a unicorn
During November Korb had more than 300 products in stock, but by December they hope to have at least a thousand in their warehouses to offer to customers. The entrepreneur believes that in two years the growth will mean that it will be the only sales channel for SMEs. The firm's business plan estimates that by 2026 it will be the first and largest supermarket chain with European products, with stores throughout Chile and at least one in Peru.
But you have to go step by step. Specifically, next week will be the launch of its new website, which, according to what it says, will have state-of-the-art software and will launch a new solution for its corporate clients.
For this, it invested 1,000 UF and the initiative consists of creating a credit that replaces the corporate boxes for Christmas bonuses -Korb's flagship product at this time- with a kind of digital gift card.
“I think this is more personal than giving away a gift card from a large chain”, explains the founder, who assures that for this stage of growth she does not contemplate a capital increase from third parties. "I'm not interested in getting involved with investment rounds, because I know where I'm going: I'm sure I'll be the first woman to create a unicorn startup," she concludes.