About Rappi
Rappi was founded in 2015 by Simón Borrero, Sebastián Mejía, and Felipe Villamarín in Bogotá, Colombia, initially launching as a food and grocery delivery service before expanding into a much broader "super app" model, encompassing a very wide range of on-demand delivery and service offerings within a single app, including delivery not just from restaurants but also groceries, pharmacy items, and various retail products, along with expanding into additional services such as ride-hailing, digital payments and other financial services, and even on-demand delivery of cash withdrawals through Rappi couriers, a distinctive service addressing the more limited automated teller machine infrastructure and cash-based economy still common in some Latin American markets.
The company's super app strategy, combining many different on-demand services within a single app and unified account, reflects a business model more common among prominent Asian technology companies such as Grab and Gojek in Southeast Asia than the more narrowly focused, single-category apps that have historically dominated in the United States and Europe, a strategic approach that Rappi and other Latin American technology companies have pursued partly to build stronger customer loyalty and more diverse revenue streams by capturing a broader share of a customer's overall daily spending and app usage, rather than competing in only one narrow service category against potentially many specialized competitors. Rappi has built a network of independent delivery couriers across the many Latin American cities and countries where it operates, and has expanded its financial services offerings significantly, including a Rappi-branded credit card and digital banking services, aiming to build deeper, more comprehensive financial relationships with its customer base beyond only on-demand delivery transactions. The company has expanded across multiple major Latin American markets including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Rappi has raised very substantial venture funding from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, reaching unicorn status, competing with other delivery and super app platforms in the region including iFood and various international delivery platforms operating in Latin America.
