Celes
About us

Artificial intelligence to transform the retail supply chain.

Celes is a Colombian technology company present across Latin America, created to solve one of retail's biggest challenges: having the right products, in the right stores, at the right time, without compromising the profitability of the business.

The problem we set out to solve

Thousands of buying and distribution decisions every day. Each one costs money when it goes wrong.

Missing products mean lost sales and unhappy customers. Excess inventory ties up capital, takes up space and raises the risk of obsolescence.

Add thousands of SKUs, many stores, shifting demand and operations that demand ever more precision and speed. With spreadsheets and generic ERP modules, the team gets to most of those decisions late.

What we do

We build an artificial intelligence platform that anticipates demand, optimizes inventory levels and automates purchasing and replenishment decisions.

The technology analyzes what every product needs in every store and recommends what to buy, how much and when, turning large volumes of data into concrete business decisions, every day.

Celes in numbers
8,000+stores replenished every day
26M+replenishment decisions per day
7Latin American countries in operation
2019founded
Our goal

Reduce lost sales, free up the capital trapped in inventory and let retailers make better decisions, every day.

Our story

Celes was born in 2019 in Colombia, when Luis Almanza, Luis Ballestas and David Florián set out to solve a problem they knew first-hand: retailers across the region were making thousands of inventory decisions every day with spreadsheets and generic ERP modules, losing sales to stockouts and capital to excess stock. The founding team brought together more than 45 years of combined experience in finance, operations, entrepreneurship and technology, and one conviction: world-class artificial intelligence had to be within reach of Latin American retail too.

In 2023 we closed our first US$1M seed round with Primeline Group, MatterScale Ventures and Rockstart, and Wayra Hispam, Telefónica's fund, added Celes to its portfolio. In 2024, FEMSA Ventures led a US$3M seed round to accelerate growth across the region, with Mexico as the focus, and one of Latin America's largest retailers became a strategic partner.

Today we operate in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and other markets in the region, with supermarkets, pharmacies, hard discount, pet retail and sportswear chains that together run thousands of stores. We are still the same close-knit team that accompanies every implementation, now behind more than 26 million replenishment decisions every day.

Founding team

The people behind Celes

More than 45 years of combined experience in finance, operations, entrepreneurship and technology, with a deep focus on the needs of Latin American retail.

How we work

Live in weeks, supported always

  1. 1

    3 to 12 weeks

    From contract signature to running in production, depending on stores, categories and integrations. The first stores are usually live within the first weeks.

  2. 2

    No third-party consultants

    Integration with your ERP, POS or WMS is a direct project between your team and Celes'.

  3. 3

    Dedicated Customer Success

    A team in the region accompanies every implementation and every tuning of the inventory policy after go-live.

What drives us

  • Data as the foundation

    Every decision is backed by data. Every recommendation is measurable and traceable.

  • Agile implementation

    We adapt to your operation, not the other way round. Results in weeks, not months.

  • Closeness

    A dedicated Customer Success team accompanies every implementation.

  • Innovation with impact

    We build world-class technology at prices Latin America can afford.

Backing

Investors betting on Latin American retail

  • FEMSA Ventures
  • MatterScale Ventures
  • Rockstart
  • Primeline Group
  • Wayra Hispam
  • Kuiper VC
  • NOA Capital
  • Storm Capital

ISO 27001 certified · Data protected under the highest international information security standards.

Presence

Built for the reality of Latin America

We work with supermarkets, hard discount, pharmacies, pet retail and sportswear in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and other markets in the region. If it works in LATAM, it works in any market.

In the press

The Celes story, as told by the press.

  • Forbes Colombia
  • La República
  • Valora Analitik
  • Startups Latam
  • Contxto
  • LatamList
  • América Retail
  • DPL News
See all coverage
Join the team

Passionate about retail and AI?

We are hiring in engineering, data science, customer success and sales in Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.

See open roles

Contact

Ready to transform your supply chain?

Book a 45-minute session with an expert in your industry and see the impact of Celes on your operation.

Book a demoMessage us on WhatsApp