Simón Borrero

When Simón Borrero founded Rappi in 2015 with Felipe Villamarín and Sebastián Mejía, Latin America’s tech ecosystem had just two unicorns to its name. He had previously founded the company Grability, a food and groceries company, but noticed that users were asking for a greater suite of services. They created Rappi, standing on a street corner in Bogotá and offering free doughnuts in exchange for app downloads. In a few short years, the Colombian super app put the region on the international map, quickly expanding across Latin America with its ubiquitous orange-clad rappitenderos, or delivery drivers. Rappi achieved success by crowdsourcing infrastructure, inviting stores and restaurants to its app marketplace, and serving as an intermediary between sellers and consumers. After achieving unicorn status in 2018, Borrero, who serves as the CEO, cemented Rappi’s dominance in Latin America by securing a $1 billion investment from SoftBank in 2019.