Rappi

Rappi runs a delivery app that lets consumers order restaurant meals, groceries, pharmacy items and other goods, along with courier errands and financial services such as RappiPay and RappiBank. It was founded in 2015 in Bogotá, Colombia, by Simón Borrero, Sebastián Mejía and Felipe Villamarín, and went through Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch. By 2021 it operated in 9 countries and more than 250 Latin American cities; Wikipedia reported about 5,200 employees and 350,000 couriers in 2024.

After Y Combinator, Rappi raised from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and DST Global. It raised $200 million in August 2018 and was described as Colombia's first unicorn that year. In April 2019 SoftBank invested $1 billion in a deal that valued Rappi at $3.5 billion, becoming a major shareholder. Rappi raised a further $300 million in September 2020, during the period when pandemic demand lifted delivery volumes across the region. In July 2021 it raised over $500 million at a $5.25 billion valuation in a round led by T. Rowe Price, with Baillie Gifford, Third Point, Octahedron, GIC and SoftBank participating, bringing total funding since 2015 to over $2 billion.

Rappi remains private. In January 2020 it cut about 6 percent of staff to refocus on technology and user experience, part of a wider cost reset across SoftBank Vision Fund companies. Wikipedia cites revenue of about $800 million for 2023 and estimated the company's valuation at about $5 billion in 2024. Co founder Simón Borrero said in September 2024 that the company would be ready for an IPO in about a year; no listing had been completed as of this profile. Its financial services arm counted about 300,000 RappiBank savings account holders and 750,000 RappiPay users in Colombia, according to Wikipedia.

Rappi illustrates the growth equity cycle in Latin American consumer technology. Y Combinator entered at the accelerator stage, US venture firms followed in the early rounds, and SoftBank's $1 billion check in 2019 took the company to a valuation that the 2021 round, led by public market crossover investors, raised only modestly to $5.25 billion. More than a decade after founding and with over $2 billion raised, investors are still waiting on a liquidity event, and the IPO timeline will determine whether the late stage capital earns a return.