Founder
Pathways:
One of the reasons the world withstood
COVID-19 was because apps carried
it forward… on two wheels. Stuck at
home, people relied on delivery bikes.
The company that made this possible
in much of Latin America was Rappi, a
Colombian delivery startup turned "super
app," founded by long-time friends and
serial entrepreneurs Simón Borrero,
Felipe Villamarín, and Sebastian Mejía.
In 2007, during his final year of college,
Simón scraped together $212 in savings
to start a web agency. Then, in 2013,
he also developed the mobile shopping
platform Grability. You would think that
Simón had his hands full, but while
working at Grability, he stumbled upon
a problem with delivery services — they
forced customers to comb through
endless text menus to find items to
buy. Simón partnered with Sebastian
and Felipe to solve this problem, and
Rappi was launched in 2015.
By 2018 the company was valued
at $1 billion, making it one of Latin
America's first unicorns. Rather
than being a distraction, the
founders' previous businesses gave
them the skills and experience
they needed to build a scalable
business and navigate the
region's economic uncertainty.
Rappi Founders, Simón Borrero (left),
and Sebastian Mejia (right)
1 2
