Three Colombians built the super app that Latin America did not know it needed. Rappi delivers your lunch, picks up your dry cleaning, delivers your medicine, and will even send someone to stand in line at the bank for you. SoftBank threw $1 billion at it. The app operates in 9 countries with 250,000+ partner stores. The genius of Rappi is understanding that in Latin America, infrastructure is the product — when public services and traditional retail are unreliable, an app that reliably delivers anything becomes essential. Whether "essential" translates to "profitable" is still being worked out.
Founded
2015
HQ
Bogota, Colombia
Total Raised
$2.3 billion
Founder
Simon Borrero, Sebastian Mejia, Felipe Villamarin
Status
Private (valued at $5.25B as of 2021)
Website
www.rappi.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Three Colombian entrepreneurs — Simon Borrero, Sebastian Mejia, and Felipe Villamarin — founded Rappi in 2015 in Bogota. The original idea was an on-demand delivery service for anything — not just food.
In Latin America, where infrastructure is fragmented and traditional logistics are unreliable, the idea of a single app that could deliver anything resonated immediately. Y Combinator backed them in 2016.
SoftBank led a $1 billion investment in 2019, valuing Rappi at $3.5 billion.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Rappi is Latin America's super app — food delivery, grocery delivery, pharmacy, alcohol, cash withdrawals, bill payments, and even sending someone to stand in line for you (RappiCash). The model is DoorDash meets Instacart meets Venmo for Latin America.
Revenue comes from delivery fees, commissions from merchants, advertising, and RappiPay (fintech). Rappi operates in 9 Latin American countries with over 250,000 partner stores.
THE PRODUCTS
Rappi (multi-category delivery app), RappiPay (digital wallet and debit card), Rappi Turbo (quick commerce), RappiTravel (travel booking), RappiFavor (anything delivery — someone does errands for you)
HOW THEY GREW
Be the super app for Latin America. Rappi wants to be the app you open for everything — food, groceries, banking, entertainment, pharmacy.
They launched RappiPay (digital wallet and card), RappiTravel (travel booking), and Rappi Turbo (10-minute grocery delivery from dark stores). The strategy: once you have a user opening the app daily for food, cross-sell them financial services, which have much higher margins.
THE HARD PART
Profitability in a low-income market. Latin American consumers are more price-sensitive than North American or European customers.
Delivery fees that seem reasonable in Manhattan feel expensive in Bogota. Rappi has to balance growth with unit economics in markets where average order values are low.
Competition from iFood (Brazil), DiDi, and Uber Eats adds pressure. SoftBank's investment came with growth expectations that may have been unrealistic.
MONEY TRAIL
Seed (YC)
2016 · Led by
$2M raised
Series B
2018 · Led by
$200M raised
Series E
2019 · Led by
$1.0B raised
Series F
2021 · Led by
$500M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
SoftBank Vision Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, Tiger Global
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