Amazon Invests in Latin American Last-Mile Delivery Provider Rappi

Amazon reportedly invested a $25 million convertible note in Colombia-based Rappi, which provides last-mile delivery of groceries and restaurant meals in Latin America.

The deal allows Amazon to buy as much as 12% of the company via warrants if certain milestones are met, Bloomberg reported Monday (Sept. 8), citing unnamed sources.

Reached by PYMNTS, Amazon declined to comment on the report.

According to the Bloomberg report, Amazon often uses warrants to make direct investments in partners so it can increase its gains if its business helps grow its partner’s sales.

Currently, Rappi is a customer of Amazon Web Services and has a partnership in which Amazon offers Prime members in Mexico a year of free shipping through Rappi, per the report.

The free shipping offer was launched in May 2024, according to an Amazon press release.

According to that press release, Amazon Mexico launched in 2015, accounted for 1.5% of the country’s retail sales as of April 29, 2024, and had more than 18,000 Mexican independent businesses selling in its store.

In March 2024, Amazon Business said it was bringing its procurement services to Mexico, making it the 10th country in which Amazon Business is available.

The company said at the time in a press release that the B2B store is particularly important because 99% of Amazon Mexico’s national sellers are small and medium-sized businesses.

It was reported in November that Amazon launched a partnership with Mexican grocery delivery startup Jüsto. In this collaboration, Amazon offers Jüsto’s service on its Mexican eCommerce platform, enabling customers visiting the site to buy things like produce, meat and fish from Jüsto, which handles deliveries.

As for Rappi, it launched a partnership with global wallet platform AstroPay in August, creating what the companies billed as the region’s first wallet-on-file integration and enabling users in Argentina, Brazil and Peru to pay across currencies, with no cards required.

The companies said at the time in a press release that their partnership means users can enjoy “frictionless, instant checkout” using balances in American dollars, euros and local currencies, with real-time foreign exchange conversion and zero card-related delays.