An on-demand delivery Colombian startup Rappi raises funds worth $500 million at a $5.25 billion valuation. This was a Series F round led by T. Rowe Price.
Baillie Gifford, Third Point, Octahedron, GIC, and SoftBank also participated in the new funding event. Previous backers include DST Global, Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sequoia Capital.
Colombian startup Rappi, Before and After Financing
This financing brings Bogota-based colombian startup Rappi’s total raised money to $2 billion since its inception in 2015. Today, it is in business in nine countries and more than 250 cities across Latin America. Its last raise was a $300 million funding round in September of 2020.
According to the Latin American Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (lavca), Rappi focused on delivering beverages at first. Since then, it has expanded into meals, groceries, tech goods, and medicine.
The company also offers a cash withdrawal feature, allowing users to pay with credit cards and then receive cash from one of Rappi’s delivery agents. Today, the company says its app allows consumers to “order nearly any good or service.”
In addition to traditional delivery, it says “users can get products delivered in less than 10 minutes, can access financial services, as well as ‘whims,’ and ‘favors.’ ” Whims allows users to order anything available in their coverage area. Favors offer an array of custom services, such as running an errand, going to the hardware store or picking out and delivering a gift. The two products allow users to connect directly with a courier.
Simón Borrero, Sebastian Mejia, and Felipe Villamarin launched the company in 2015, graduating from Y Combinator the following year. A16z’s initial investment in July 2016 was the Silicon Valley firm’s first investment in Latin America, according to Latin American Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (LAVCA).
According to a report in January 2020, Rappi laid off around 6% of its staff.