Business

Colombian startup Rappi is betting on data collection to grow in Latin America

Valued at $3.5 billion and backed by Softbank, the super app still doesn't make profits but seeks an ambitious growth in the region

Rappi is betting on data collection to grow in Latin America
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Operating since 2015, the company that started as a food delivery service and soon became the on-demand super app that now offers from supermarket deliveries to furniture and e-scooters for rent, Rappi has a powerful tool to keep growing in Latin America: users data. And it’s precisely this tool that makes the Colombian startup valuable for partner companies.

READ ALSO:How Colombian startup Rappi has been leading the way in Latin America’s new technology era

“We will help restaurants to understand their missed opportunities,” said Sebastian Mejia, Rappi co-founder, according to the news media outlet Estadão. These opportunities can be identified by looking at the valuable data generated by the app: every transaction made in the platform produces data about customers such as where they live, what they want, and when they need it – something that can be a strategic weapon for brands targeting their audiences. 

Seeking to build a whole ecosystem, pushing the digital transformation in the region, Rappi will maintain its efforts in growing – at a very high proportion – its customer base, and for the company, this is something more important than making profits, at least for now. “I want to reach as many consumers as possible. I’d rather invest in it than focus on short-term goals or short-term profitability,” declared Mejía to the newspaper. For the company’s investors, the strategy makes sense. “I understand why Rappi burns so much cash to get there,” said Hendrick Lee, from Palm Drive Capital, to Estadão.

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