Rappi

Rappi's defining characteristics is the broad range of products and services available for delivery. The mobile app lets users order groceries, food or drugstore medications, but also send money (cash) to someone, or have a courier withdraw money from their bank account from an ATM and get it delivered to them, also, the couriers can offer transport personal belongings (such as house keys, wallets, purses and more). Couriers even walk customers' dogs.

Its UI has evolved from a supermarket shelve, to a less skeuomorphic interface, following the global trend. Depending on the country, customers can pay in cash or via debit and credit cards. Its platform incorporates Grability, an e-commerce platform used by other retailers such as Walmart, El Corte Inglés and Cencosud.[3] Customer reviews are largely negative due to lack of customer support.[4]

Rappi was founded in 2015 by Felipe Villamarin, Sebastián Mejía, and Simón Borrero, three Colombian entrepreneurs. The initial investment in Rappi was $2,000,000 (equivalent to $2,160,958.92 as of 2019[6]). According to Mejía, Rappi's customers can "order almost anything they want with a super app concept that will deliver it to them in 30 minutes in exchange for a buck." The company generates revenue by taking an average of 17% from each retail transaction.[1]

Later, Rappi entered Y-Combinator's Winter 2016 batch, generating additional investment.[7][8] In August 2018, the company raised another $200 million in funding.[9] SoftBank became a major stakeholder in Rappi in April 2019 with a $1 billion dollar investment.[10]

In October 2018, some delivery people of Rappi took to the streets. The company has been criticized for its working conditions, from the employees side and for a lack of customer care from their clientele.[11][12][13] Rappi has allegedly failed to follow regulations regarding customer support and faces possible fines from government regulators.[14] The [Colombian] Superintendency of Industry and Commerce has formulated an investigation against Rappi S.A.S. "Not having a complaints channel for their customers, the fact that there is still confusion in the terms and conditions ... the final price for the consumer still being unknown and variable, the fact they are still not giving full attention to the complaints ... calls our attention," Superintendency head Andres Barreto told journalists.[15]

In January 2019, Rappi signed a partnership with Avon Products to distribute the company's beauty and personal care products through its platform.[16] That month, due to the Tlahuelilpan pipeline explosion and following gas shortage in Mexico, many users turned to Rappi to order gas delivered to their house, but the company had to remind them that this process was illegal.[17]

In February 2019, Simon Borrero was awarded the "Empresario del año" (Businessman of the year) award from the Colombian President for helping transform society.[18] Simon Borrero and Rappi et al are currently being sued in U.S. federal court for misappropriation of trade secrets.

As of August 2020, Rappi had more than 200,000 independent couriers actively connecting to the app in Latin America, and worked along with over 250,000 different businesses including groceries shops, pharmacies, kiosks, and office supply stores.[1]

In 2019, Rappi partnered with Visa Inc to offer prepaid cards in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, together with a QR-Code based digital wallet called RappiPay. Rappi's Country Manager in Brazil said it was the first of many financial services the company planned to expand beyond delivery.[19] In June 2020 Rappi announced a partnership in Mexico with Banorte to revolutionalize digital banking services.[20]

The success of the company has been boosted by the Venezuelan refugee crisis,[21] with more than 1.3 million Venezuelans having fled to Colombia as of July 2019.[21] As many new migrants struggle to find regular jobs, apps like Rappi allow a quick access to a first moderate revenue.[21]

• Official website