Movile, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based technology company, has announced that it raised $500 million in a new round of funding to grow its meal delivery iFood app. This round of funding was provided by some of iFood’s current investors such as South African media company Naspers (Movile’s owner) and Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann.
These details were revealed by Movile founder and president Eduardo Henrique in an interview with Reuters. Of the $500 million, $400 million was pledged this week and $100 million was raised in the past several weeks.
“iFood has established itself as a technology leader in Latin America and its success stacks up with some of the most innovative food companies that are leading regions in North America, Europe, and Asia,” said Naspers Ventures CEO Larry Illg. “We have been impressed by their execution in Brazil and remain committed to backing the company on its path to transform the entire food chain to better serve consumers.”
iFood is currently the largest food delivery app in Latin America as it operates in 483 Brazilian cities. And it supports 120,000 motorcycle delivery drivers who work for 50,000 restaurants. iFood averaged about 390,000 deliveries per day in October, which is more than double the same period in 2017. As a comparison, GrubHub in the US hits about 416,000 orders per day.
With this round of funding, iFood will invest in artificial intelligence technologies and optimize delivery logistics. “We are inspired by experiences of companies from the same sector in China and I think it’s early days in Brazil,” said Henrique via Reuters. “We can triple the number of restaurants.”
According to Forbes contributor Angelica Mari, iFood achieved unicorn status (valuation worth more than $1 billion) about a year and a half ago. iFood currently does not have plans to go public.
