Merqueo, began the procedures to launch a share offer that allows it to be listed on the Nasdaq market in New York.
If the IPO is successful, it will be the first Latin American delivery company to enter the US capital market despite the fact that there has always been speculation about Rappi‘s possible entry into that market.
Until now, the company has not stated how much it will seek to raise in its IPO, nor the price at which it will subscribe the titles in the US market. The decision to go public comes in the middle of a venture capital winter (especially in food and grocery delivery).
In the information published with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Merqueo explained that “we are an ’emerging growth company’ under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced reporting requirements on public companies. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk.”
Amid pandemic and lockdown times, instant delivery businesses grew and cashed in. Now the sector seems to be experiencing a hangover.
One example is Instacart, a US supermarket delivery startup that bankers expect to make an IPO in 2023, which has cut its internal valuation to around $10 billion.
Could Instacart‘s valuation cut affect Merqueo a LatAm-based company in the same sector that filed for an IPO request on Nasdaq?
The IPO, a move that has all but dried up this year in both the United States and Brazil, is a means of capitalizing. Merqueo founded in 2017, is a Series C-stage Colombian startup that has already raised about $80 million.
Merqueo’s CEO is currently Felipe Ossa, former managing director of Domicilios.com which was acquired by iFood and Delivery Hero. Ossa was COO of the company and five months ago replaced Miguel Mc Allister, who cofounded Merqueo with José Calder®n (of RobinFood) in 2016, in the role of CEO of the company. For the COO position, Brazilian Saulo Brazi, who was director of Brazil operations at Merqueo has moved up to the position that was Ossa’s. Brazil was co-founder and CEO of Delivery Center.
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