附近上门

Colombian on-demand delivery startup 听 Tuesday afternoon an investment of “up to $1 billion” from 听 The raise was done at a pre-money valuation of $2.5 billion, according to a Bloomberg .

Last month, we reported that (SBG) had unveiled plans for , or what it described as 鈥渢he largest-ever technology fund focused exclusively on the fast-growing Latin American market.鈥� The funding marks the first investment from SoftBank鈥檚 new innovation fund and was made alongside SoftBank鈥檚 Vision Fund. SoftBank Group and the Vision Fund will each invest up to $500 million in Bogota-based Rappi, according to a release by the company.

The investment also marks the largest technology financing to date in a Latin America-based company, according to Rappi.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

Since its inception in 2015, Rappi has now raised a total of about 鈥攎ost recently, bringing in around $200 million in a last August that took it to unicorn status, according to the startup鈥檚 profile. 鈥檚 led that round, which included participation from existing investors including and .

The chart below highlights recent funding rounds for Rappi.

According to the ( Rappi focused on delivering beverages and first, and has since expanded into meals, groceries, tech goods, and medicine. The company also offers a cash withdrawal feature, allowing users to pay with credit cards and then receive cash from one of Rappi鈥檚 delivery agents. To help keep costs efficient, the company鈥檚 fleet of couriers use only motorcycles and bikes, according to LAVCA.

Rappi says that last year, it “expanded the number of products delivered by seven times, and registered a monthly growth of 20 percent” in the seven countries where it operates: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Peru.

, ,听and launched the company in 2015, graduating from Y Combinator the following year. A16z鈥檚 initial investment in July 2016 was the Silicon Valley firm鈥檚 first investment in Latin America, according to LAVCA.

, SoftBank Group鈥檚 COO, CEO of SoftBank Group International and CEO of Innovation Fund, said of the company:鈥淩appi鈥檚 founders have a bold vision to create the premiere multi-service 鈥榮uper-app鈥� for Latin America, improving the lives of millions in the region. In less than four years Rappi has become one of the fastest growing start-ups in Latin America. This rapid growth demonstrates the immense opportunity in the Latin American region.”

In general, the Latin American region has seen a surge in VC investment and increased interest from global investors, which you can read more about it here.

Editorial note: The funding round was confirmed after this piece was published. We have revised the headline and the article to reflect this change.

Illustration:听