Rappi to launch in three more Brazilian cities following SoftBank round

Contxto – Following the US$1 billion SoftBank round that increased Rappi’s valuation to around US$3.5 billion post-money, the last-mile delivery company will use the fresh funds to expand to other three Brazilian cities.

In Summary

With this, the Colombian-born startup will increase its total reach to over 70 Brazilian cities.

Present in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, and its native Colombia, Rappi aspires to also expand to two to four more countries. At the moment, though, it hasn’t specified which nations it has in mind, according to Rappi’s co-founder, Sebastián Mejía, during a Reuters interview.

In that last round, SoftBank contributed US$1 billion, split half and half between the holding and the Vision Fund. Eventually, the investment would be transferred to the Innovation Fund – its Latin American focused investment vehicle.

In-depth

Besides its geographic expansion to more Brazilian cities, Rappi is also planning to upgrade its platform to a “super app.”

Not only will customers be able to purchase goods and services, but it will also be a holistic platform for performing financial transactions, easily and effectively. This is an attempt to stay on top of competitors implementing new technologies into their growth strategies.

Brazil certainly seems to be a natural go-to-market for Rappi. In general, the startup increased sales five-fold over the past last year. Just alone in Brazil, though, sales skyrocketed by 24 times.

While the company is handling all of these transactions internally and is not actively seeking to partner with a financial institution, it certainly hasn’t thrown the thought out for future opportunities. At the same time, the founder sounds optimistic about what’s to come thanks to SoftBank.

“We are excited to receive the SoftBank investment,” said Mejía. “It’s the world’s largest investor in startups betting on innovation in Latin America.”

-VC