Revenue
Sacra estimates Rappi generated $856M in revenue in 2023, growing 37% from 2022. The company achieved $624M in revenue in 2022, representing 29.4% growth from 2021. This marked a recovery from the -30.7% decline seen in 2021.
Rappi operates on a multi-revenue stream model with four core components: commissions from merchants (estimated 75% of revenue), advertising fees from restaurants and FMCG companies (13%), Rappi Prime subscription revenue (10%), and e-commerce revenue (2%).
The company serves over 5.5M monthly active users across 9 countries and 100+ cities in Latin America.
While not yet profitable, Rappi benefits from strong unit economics due to high route density and low labor costs in Latin America.
The company's delivery expenses represent only 10% of GMV, significantly lower than peers like Zomato (14%), Meituan (16%) and Uber Eats (32%). According to company data, Rappi can break even in new zones within 3.5 months of launch.
Valuation
Rappi raised $496M in a Series F round led by T. Rowe Price in July 2021, reaching a $5.25B valuation. With $482M in revenue for 2021, this implies a 10.9x revenue multiple.
Rappi has raised a total of $2.3B from multiple prominent investors including T. Rowe Price, Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, SoftBank, and Baillie Gifford.
Product
Rappi was founded in 2015 by Simón Borrero, Sebastian Mejia, and Felipe Villamarin in Colombia. The company began as a convenience store delivery app with a unique "order anything" button that allowed customers to request any item via free-form text.
Rappi found product-market fit as an on-demand delivery platform for urban Latin American consumers who wanted quick access to convenience store items, groceries, and prepared food. The company's initial success came from dense urban areas where customers valued the ability to get items delivered within minutes.
The core product connects three key parties through a mobile app: consumers who need items delivered, local merchants who want to sell their products, and delivery couriers who fulfill orders. Customers open the app, browse available items from nearby stores and restaurants, place their order, and track their delivery in real-time.
Rappi has expanded beyond basic delivery to become a comprehensive super-app for Latin American consumers. The platform now includes RappiPay for digital payments and money transfers, RappiTravel for booking flights and hotels, and RappiPrime for subscription-based benefits. The company also operates over 300 dark kitchens in partnership with restaurants to optimize delivery efficiency in dense urban areas.
Through its multi-vertical approach, Rappi aims to be a one-stop platform for daily consumer needs across 9 countries and 100+ cities in Latin America.
Business Model
Rappi is a multi-vertical on-demand delivery platform operating across Latin America that connects consumers, merchants, and delivery couriers through its mobile app. The company generates revenue through four main streams: merchant commissions (75% of revenue), advertising fees from restaurants and consumer goods companies (13%), Rappi Prime subscriptions (10%), and e-commerce sales (2%).
Merchants pay commissions ranging from 10-30% of order value, while customers pay delivery fees between 5-15%. The company's Rappi Prime subscription service offers free delivery and exclusive discounts to drive customer loyalty and recurring revenue.
Rappi's competitive advantage stems from operating in markets with the world's highest route density and significantly lower labor costs compared to Western peers. This enables delivery expenses of just 10% of GMV, versus 14-32% for competitors like Zomato and Uber Eats.
The company employs a cross-selling strategy similar to Meituan in China - using high-frequency, low-margin services like food delivery to gain mindshare before expanding into higher-margin verticals like travel and financial services. This multi-vertical approach has proven effective, with over 90% of customers purchasing from at least two categories and average purchase frequency increasing from 2 times per month in year 1 to 11 times by year 5.
Competition
Rappi operates in Latin America's on-demand delivery market, which has consolidated significantly since 2019 with the exits of Glovo from Chile and Brazil, and Uber Eats from Argentina and Colombia.
Regional delivery platforms
iFood dominates Brazil with exclusive restaurant contracts, though recent regulatory changes may weaken this position. Pedidos Ya leads in Argentina, while Uber Eats maintains strong presence in Mexico. These players primarily focus on restaurant delivery, unlike Rappi's multi-vertical approach.
Global tech platforms
Uber Eats and DoorDash compete in select markets but face challenges with Latin America's unique infrastructure needs and lower labor costs. These companies typically have higher delivery expenses (30-32% of GMV) compared to Rappi's 10%, due to structural differences in market density and wages.
Vertical specialists
Direct-to-consumer brands and large restaurant chains increasingly build their own delivery capabilities, similar to how Marriott and Hilton developed direct booking to reduce platform dependency. These merchants often generate the majority of platform GMV - the top 10-15% of restaurants account for most orders, processing 2,000-5,000 orders monthly versus under 50 for smaller merchants.
The competitive dynamics are shifting toward a duopoly structure in most markets, with platforms differentiating through exclusive contracts and vertical integration. Rappi's 300+ dark kitchens and expansion into adjacent services like payments and e-commerce represent a strategic shift from pure marketplace to full-stack provider, following a playbook similar to Meituan in China.
TAM Expansion
Rappi has tailwinds from Latin America's low e-commerce penetration and dense urban environments, with opportunities to expand into fintech, dark store retail, and broader logistics services across a $1T+ total addressable market.
Low-penetration market opportunity
Latin America's food delivery and e-commerce penetration sits at just 2-3%, compared to 10-18% in markets like India, US and China. The region's total food service and CPG market exceeds $1T annually. With 70%+ smartphone adoption and rising disposable incomes, Rappi is positioned to capture significant share of offline-to-online migration.
Vertical integration advantages
Rappi's 300+ dark kitchens and micro-fulfillment centers enable a shift from point-to-point to hub-and-spoke delivery, improving unit economics. The company's delivery costs represent just 10% of GMV versus 14-32% for global peers. This cost advantage allows Rappi to break even in new zones within 3.5 months.
Super app potential
Rappi is the only true multi-vertical player in Latin America, with 90% of customers already purchasing across multiple categories. Purchase frequency increases from 2x monthly in year 1 to 11x monthly by year 5. The company's payment infrastructure enables expansion into financial services - a high-margin adjacent market that strengthens merchant relationships through integrated point-of-sale, inventory management and working capital solutions.
Network effects at scale
As Rappi reaches critical mass in each market, local network effects compound. More merchants drive more customers, enabling better unit economics through route density. The company's data on customers, merchants and logistics creates increasing barriers to entry while enabling expansion into new verticals like advertising and B2B services.
Risks
Multi-vertical execution challenges: Rappi's strategy of expanding into multiple verticals like e-commerce, travel, and fintech requires significant operational complexity and capital. While this approach mirrors Meituan's successful playbook, managing diverse business lines could dilute focus and strain resources. The company must maintain service quality across all verticals to drive the cross-category usage that underpins its unit economics.
Brazil market vulnerability: Brazil represents 40% of LatAm's GDP but Rappi faces intense competition from iFood's home market advantage. Losing the battle for Brazil would significantly impact Rappi's regional scale advantages and force costly market share battles in smaller markets. Recent regulatory challenges to iFood's exclusive contracts provide an opportunity, but winning market share will require substantial investment.
Dark kitchen dependency: Rappi's investment in 300+ dark kitchens aims to improve unit economics through hub-and-spoke delivery. However, this vertical integration increases fixed costs and operational complexity. If consumer demand shifts or restaurant partners resist this model, Rappi could be left with underutilized kitchen assets that drag on profitability.
Funding Rounds
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View the source Certificate of Incorporation copy. |
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