Marcos Alves entered the business world as a young, seasoned entrepreneur who built his path through a string of ambitious ventures. At 26, he launched ElTenedor, a restaurant reservation app that caught the eye of larger platforms and was eventually acquired by Tripadvisor for a sum exceeding €100 million. His portfolio also includes Premiumguest, MiResi, Traspacar, Vanylu, Scoolinary, and Agrosingularity, among others. Today, he leads expansion and growth at LUDA Partners, where his focus is squarely on online sales services for parapharmacy. In this role, he collaborates with laboratories and works to help pharmacies tackle the serious challenges surrounding drug supply and shortages in Spain, aiming to stabilize access for patients.
Alves participates in high-profile meetings and forums, where discussions center on entrepreneurship, economics, and leadership. When evaluating the impact of the current economic environment on startups, he notes that while starting a business remains challenging, the landscape today shows signs of improvement compared with fifteen years ago. He emphasizes that entrepreneurship has become more accessible through increased knowledge, clearer pathways for progress, and a growing base of prior experience.
According to Alves, success in entrepreneurship still relies on a strong business DNA. He highlights the importance of learning from mistakes, staying resilient, and maintaining a positive outlook while building cohesive teams. He observes that the profile of the entrepreneur is evolving, with people aged 40 and older increasingly starting new ventures. While he does not label this shift as a trend, it reflects a broader rethinking of life and career paths, an outlook he regards as healthy and potentially enduring. He also notes that younger founders continue to enter the scene, bringing fresh energy and ideas while benefiting from the experience of their seasoned peers.
On the topic of funding and capital markets, Alves acknowledges that rising interest rates have complicated financing for banks and other financial entities. This has pushed investors to be more selective, focusing on solid ideas and the long-term potential of projects rather than merely chasing rapid expansion. He describes a more careful evaluation process in which profitability and sustainable growth metrics hold weight alongside traditional growth ambitions.
LUDA Partners positions itself as a business model oriented toward customer profitability, particularly for pharmacies. The core aim is to accelerate digitization and diversify revenue through the sale of parapharmacy products. The company raised significant financing for expansion last year and has grown to surpass 3,000 linked pharmacies, with an additional 220 joining each month. A key factor in LUDA’s approach is its no fixed-cost model, which creates a win-win: pharmacies can increase their online sales without heavy upfront investments, while LUDA earns commissions on online sales. This software-driven platform enables trade and supplier rationalization in the pharmaceutical channel, supporting better outcomes for pharmacies without owning inventory themselves.
Understanding the everyday realities of Spain’s more than 22,000 pharmacies, LUDA builds a nationwide online solution that scales across borders, focusing on parapharmaceutical products rather than medicines. Some pharmacies have begun to derive as much as 60 percent of their income from these products. LUDA’s partnerships with delivery networks speed fulfillment, enabling orders to reach customers in a matter of hours using pharmacy locations close to buyers, and in some cases outperforming large general retailers in speed thanks to its distributed network.
Beyond sales and logistics, LUDA connects pharmacies and provides real time updates on medicine availability. This service helps pharmacists locate required drugs quickly, offering a practical remedy to disruptions in the drug supply that have plagued the industry for years. By delivering fast, reliable information and streamlined processes, LUDA contributes to a broader effort to reduce shortages and keep patients safely supplied with needed medications.