Rappi using delivery behavior for credit
Sebastian Mejia, co-founder of Rappi, on building for multi-verticality in on-demand
Rappi is using delivery behavior as a cheap, always updating credit bureau. A bank can see whether someone opens the app weekly, buys across food, grocery and pharmacy, repays card balances, and keeps using the product over time. That is more useful than a one time application form because Rappi captures repeat behavior across many small purchases, then feeds that signal into partner bank underwriting and into its own retention loop.
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The key input is not one order, it is repeated multi category behavior. Rappi has found that customers move from 2 orders per month in year 1 to 6 in year 3 and 11 in year 5, with more than 90% buying from at least two categories. That gives many more chances to observe reliability than a normal bank card application.
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This also improves the delivery business itself. When customers use a Rappi card inside the app, Rappi keeps more of the payment economics, can fund cash back and loyalty rewards, and can push spending back into food, grocery, and other categories. Credit is not a side business, it makes the core marketplace stickier and more profitable.
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The closest strategic parallel is Meituan. The playbook is to win frequent low margin transactions first, then layer on higher margin services once the app already has habit and data. Rappi is applying that logic to payments and credit in Latin America, where mobile first behavior and thinner traditional credit files make platform data unusually valuable.
The next step is deeper financial embedding inside the super app. As Rappi gathers more transaction, repayment, and category level behavior, it can help banks approve more users, price risk faster, and turn everyday commerce activity into a broader financial graph. That pushes the market toward platforms that do not just deliver orders, but also own the customer relationship at checkout and in credit.