Rappi's complicated balancing act

Carried by an intense culture and seemingly unquenchable ambition, Colombia's first unicorn has to combine growth and profitability while facing scrutiny about its model.

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The logical continuation

Rappi was created in 2015 based on the following thesis: the e-commerce sector’s delivery capabilities were severely underdeveloped, even more so in LATAM where Rappi’s three musketeers (Simón Borrero, Sebastian Mejía, and Felipe Villamarín) hail from. Said thesis sprouted from the trio’s shared experience at Grability, a startup empowering super-market chains’ e-commerce capabilities, co-founded by Simón and Sebastian.

Likely bolstered by its founders’ diverse educational backgrounds, existing US ties, and already impressive entrepreneurial experiences, Rappi got into the revered Y-Combinator startup incubator in 2016 a rapid year after its birth. That, combined with the virginity of the market it was targeting, would prove to be a fruitful mix.

During Rappi’s childhood, the company’s initial market (LATAM’s e-commerce delivery), wasn’t just ripe for disruption. It needed to be built. The market also benefitted from an obscure, yet crucial metric: its AOV/delivery cost ratio.