Movile now owns a majority share of iFood, which claims to be Brazil's largest online food ordering platform, and the money will support a doubling of its restaurant base.
Brazil-based online food delivery service iFood raised $50m yesterday in a round led by mobile commerce platform Movile.
Movile, which became the majority shareholder in iFood through its investment, was joined in the round by online food takeaway service Just Eat. It now holds a 60% share of iFood, according to TechCrunch.
Founded in 2011, iFood claims to be Brazil’s largest online food delivery platform, recording around 700,000 orders each month. It estimates that it holds an 80% market share in the country’s mobile food ordering sector.
The company plans to use the funding to double its restaurant base to 10,000, expanding into 48 more cities in Brazil while increasing mobile orders.
Fabricio Bloisi, chief executive of Movile, said: “Online-to-offline commerce startups that offer services in the physical landscape have a competitive weapon, and we believe startups like iFood have enormous growth potential to become one of the largest food [delivery services] in the world.
“iFood is a leader in this rapidly changing landscape and by combining our strengths, we will help Brazilians discover and connect with their local restaurants in a whole new way.”
Movile previously invested $2.6m in iFood in 2013 and a further $2m in February 2014, before Just Eat provided $5.7m for iFood in September, merging its Brazilian subsidiary RestauranteWeb with the company at the same time. iFood had previously raised $1.6m in seed funding in 2011.
Movile participated in the round less than two months after it received $40m from e-commerce group Naspers.
