Rappi

Rappi was founded in 2015 in Bogotá, Colombia, by Simón Borrero, Sebastián Mejía and Felipe Villamarín. It is a delivery app, but a broad one: restaurant meals, supermarket shopping, pharmacy orders, liquor, and at times errands such as picking up something you forgot somewhere. It operates in several Latin American countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Behind the app there is a three-sided marketplace. Stores and restaurants list their products, customers order, and independent couriers, known in Spanish as rappitenderos, pick up and deliver. Software decides which courier gets each order, estimates times and sets fees; Rappi earns commissions from the stores, delivery fees and a subscription for frequent customers. Over time it added financial services under the RappiPay name, like cards and payments.

Rappi was one of the first Colombian startups valued above a billion dollars, a so-called unicorn, and received large investments from funds such as SoftBank. It also sits at the center of the debate about gig work in the region: couriers are treated as independent contractors, and there are ongoing discussions about their pay, insurance and safety on the streets.