Aug 2025
Strategic Partnership: Sunbelt Business Brokers
Largest brokerage network partnership
Early Distribution
Live marketplace network
A $10 trillion market, stuck behind a paywall. We opened the door.
Venturu is the free marketplace for buying and selling local businesses. We launched in early 2025. Here's what happened next.
0+
Verified listings
0+
Licensed brokers
$0.0B+
Listed opportunities
0
States live
19× growth in 8 months.
Three metrics, one flywheel: listings, brokers, and states growing in lockstep.
Listings
Brokers
States
Projected
19×
Growth in 8 months
200 → 3,850 listings
50
States in 8 months
National coverage achieved
70
Brokers in 3 days
At IBBA Conference (May)
1,000
Daily active users
Engagement at scale
Why this matters.
10,000
business owners retire every day in the United States. Most have no succession plan. The business they spent decades building often just closes.
The platforms that were supposed to help charge $300–$1,000 just to list a business. They use technology that hasn't been updated in years. And they do nothing to verify whether the listing is real.
We started Venturu because we lived through this. Our CEO bought six businesses by knocking on doors. When he tried to buy a seventh through existing platforms, the process was so broken it became the reason Venturu exists.
Paid listings are the single biggest bottleneck in a $10 trillion market. We removed it.
Live Data Point
Today's retirements so far:
0
business owners retired today
Each dot = 100 retirees10,000 per day
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics — Baby Boomer retirement wave projections
Leadership
The founders.
One spent 8 years learning how businesses grow, then bought six by knocking on doors. The other spent 10 years building technology that scales. Together, they did in 12 months what incumbents couldn't do in 20 years.
Luis Merchan
Co-Founder & CEO
Bloomberg Top 500NASDAQ CEO
6
Acquisitions
8+
Years Growth
1
Public Co Led
Named by Bloomberg as a Top 500 Most Influential Executive. Led growth at Macy's for 8+ years. Then bought six local businesses the hard way — by knocking on doors. The seventh one broke the model.
The seventh business I tried to buy showed me that the tools just don't exist. So we're building them.
Joel Hernández
Co-Founder & CTO
Top 500 Digital Talent500K+ Users Served
500K+
Users Built
10+
Years Eng
12
Months to Ship
Built services used by 500,000+ people. Named Top 500 Digital Talent in the Netherlands. At 29, he shipped a national marketplace in under a year — something incumbents with 50-person teams and $50M funding couldn't do.
We care about every detail because the people using this are making one of the biggest decisions of their lives.
One spent his career learning why this market doesn't work. The other spent his career building things that do. Together, they cover both sides.
The Business Model
Free is not the business model.
Free is the unlock.
Momentum progress01/05
01 · now
Free Listings
No barrier to entry
02
More Businesses
Sellers follow buyers
03
More Buyers
Free access attracts
04
More Brokers
Inventory attracts pros
05
More Listings
Cycle accelerates
When the market reaches critical mass, premium tools and partnerships generate revenue — without ever charging for access.
This is the same model that built Zillow, Airbnb, and Google. Access is free. Infrastructure is the product.
The cycle repeats. Momentum compounds.
Product
The platform.
Tools built for speed, designed for trust.
Live product walkthroughLive demoNow showingMap Search
Feature Lab · 01
Live2,847
Verified businesses for sale
Focus market
Miami, FL
Median asking: $485K
+12 new this week
Active listings nationwide
Map Search
2,847
Verified opportunities visible now
Browse businesses by location with verified details.
Visualize opportunities across the country. Filter by industry, price, and status. Every listing shows verified financials and contact info.
Coverage updates hourly from live marketplace data
Auto-playing01/06
Milestones.
A timeline of constant progress across validation, traction, and infrastructure.
Aug 2025
Exclusive Partnership: Miami Realtors Association
Association-level distribution in a key market
Early Distribution
Aug 2025
Active in All 50 States (10 mos ahead of schedule)
National coverage reached early
Early Distribution
Oct 2025
Surpassed $3 Billion in Platform GMV
Liquidity scaled to institutional signal levels
Scale Signals
YHacker News
Nov 2025Trending #19 on HackerNews (10k+ organic visits)
Organic distribution and technical credibility
Scale Signals
Nov 2025
Launched Universal Broker API
From marketplace product to infrastructure layer
Scale Signals
Selected for Endeavor Local Founder Program
External validation from elite operator network
Infrastructure & Prestige
Dec 2025
1,350+ Verified Brokers Onboarded
High-trust supply network density
Infrastructure & Prestige
Dec 2025International Expansion: Canada (400+ Listings)
TAM expansion beyond the U.S.
Infrastructure & Prestige
Team
The team.
Built by operators across engineering, sales, and marketing — all focused on compounding marketplace trust.
Luis
CEO
Company and marketplace strategy
Joel
CTO
Product architecture and AI systems
Cesar
Sales
Broker and partner growth
Jozsef
Engineering
Core platform execution
Taisiia
Sales
Pipeline and outbound operations
Klementyna
Marketing
Narrative, brand, and growth loops
Next move
Choose your path.
Whether you are buying, selling, or advising, Venturu gives you the infrastructure to move faster with confidence.
Buy a business
Search verified listings and connect directly.
Explore now
Sell your business
List for free and launch with AI-powered tools.
Explore now
Join as a broker
Grow inventory, demand, and distribution.
Explore now
Live marketplace. Real buyers, real sellers, real brokers.