INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Brazilian technology conglomerate Movile has just raised one of the largest rounds ever recorded for a Latin American startup, pulling
in an additional $400 million for its iFood subsidiary from existing investors including Naspers and Innova Capital.
Founded roughly
20-years ago by chief executive officer Fabricio Bloisi, the company which began as a digital content studio for mobile device has grown
into a mobile services and content empire with aspirations of reaching 1 billion people.
Latin America Movile is quietly building a mobile
empire
The company is on its way with estimated revenues over$240 million andover 150 million monthly activeusers
iFood alone recorded 10.4 million delivery orders for the month of October and the growth of the business is nothing short of
explosive.
According to data from the company, iFood received390,000 orders per day in Brazil in the last weeks of October & representing
109% growth, compared to 183,000 from October 2017
The company 10.8 million monthly orders have fed 9 million Brazilian customers and iFood boasts a network of 50,000 restaurants and 120,000
couriers.
&Movileis very fortunate to have long-term investors who have supported us for the past decade to help achieve our goal of
transforming the lives of more than one billion people and thus we are able to continually back iFood to ensure it remains the market
leader,& said Fabricio Bloisi,the company chief executive in a statement
&Our entire ecosystem of companies is focused on allocating resources and energy towards our one billion people goal, and iFood is leading
the way fueling unprecedented growth through its innovative technology platform, providing consumers, couriers and restaurants with the best
experience in food ordering and delivery.&
Movile Chief Executive Officer, Fabricio Bloisi
Delivery is central to Movile expansion plans
and it serves as a gateway to many of the company other business lines.
While the engine of growth in the company earliest days was
Playkids, its mobile content business focused on children entertainment, it has moved well beyond content and entertainment
Now it counts the payment business Zoop; delivery company Rappido; and the ticketing business, Sympla, among its many and varied business
units.
In an interview onstage at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Latin America event last week, Bloisi attributed the company success to its
aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy across the region and an ability to rapidly spin up and shut down business units as it
experimented with what could work for Latin American consumers.
The goal, for Bloisi was always to create a multi-billion business that
could span the globe and compete with any of the technology giants hailing from Silicon Valley or, increasingly, China.
Indeed, as Movile
expands, its model is looking more and more similar to another Naspers portfolio company, the Chinese mammoth of mobile messaging and
services, Tencent.
Leveraging its messaging platform, WeChat, Tencent has become a multi-billion powerhouse — and a platform for
exchanging goods and services for a huge percentage of China mobile internet users.
Movile hopes to follow the same path, with operations in
content, payments, and delivery all housed under its roof
And as the connections between online and offline commerce increase, food delivery is emerging as the central hub for that plan, as our
contributor, Nathan Lustig wrote for us earlier this year.
The insights and data that Movile gathered during its strategic venture capital
investments in iFood were critical
During this time, Movile built the foundation for its investments that followed shortly after, and learned how to make them a success
With each new investment, Movile goal was simple: take a fast-moving startup and help it grow beyond what the founding team ever thought
possible by infusing cash, human capital and any technical resources or expertise that the startup could possibly need.
Movile quickly
solidified its MA strategy, its processes and its position as a leader in Latin America mobile market
To continue financing its growth through acquisitions, Movile raised another$55 millionfrom Innova Capital, Jorge Paulo Lemann and FINEP in
its Series D round in 2014
This new round of financing led to even more acquisitions, including the acquisition of Rapiddo, ChefTime and FreshTime
It also allowed the company to make additional investments in LBS Local, the owners of Apontador, MapLink, Cinepapaya and TruckPad.
&We want
our consumers to have an amazing delivery experience from the moment they order their food to the moment it arrives, and our partners & the
restaurants and delivery fleet & make that happen by living our purpose of improving people lives using our services,& said Carlos Moyses,
iFood chief executive in a statement
&iFood exists for our customers and with an increased investment commitment of this size, we will be able to build out our state of the art
technology platform, and increase our courier and restaurant partners to even better serve our current and future customers in Latin
