Postmates ($POSTMATES) is pulling out of Mexico City, according to a CNBC report. And The Information says Doordash ($DOORDASH) losses are more than $400 million. They may get you dinner, but those food delivery startups aren’t delivering profits to anyone. Yet.
Even Grubhub ($NYSE:GRUB) stock is down more than 40% so far this year – and it’s consistently knocked out profitable quarters. Similarly, job postings are down in the 40% range for Grubhub (not shown). It’s just another signal that the food delivery wars may have gotten a bit overheated – and now, US disruptors are appearing to have a little more difficulty navigating international restaurant markets with their apps, the way Uber and Lyft were more easily able to hop over barriers to entry with individual drivers.
Once upon a time – that is, around the time WeWork’s over-hyped IPO prospectus was being rejected by rightly squirrely investors – Both Postmates and Doordash were growing at record pace, tacking on new staffers with Uber-esque hopes of bounding into new markets – like Mexico City – but there was a recent reversal in their job posting trends. Postmates has 34% fewer jobs since its peak this fall, and Doordash postings are down 25%.
Postmates bailed on Mexico City, and part of what might have made its development difficult there is the prevalance of Rappi ($RAPPI), a Colombian startup that does exactly the same thing for precisely the same restaurants. Today, Rappi is posting more jobs than Postmates. And Doordash. Combined.
And Rappi’s still growing – although not at the same pace it once was. Our chart above tracks Rappi job postings, which are up an impressive 525% since late February, when we began tracking their data.
Our final chart tracks Google Play ratings – which is a helpful proxy on how often a product is downloaded. Rappi recently tacked on $1 billion in funding from – wait for it! – Softbank, but at a $2.5 valuation that, at least with the data above, appears to have been a great deal.
Doordash’s valuation crossed the $10 billion mark a while ago (plus it’s grown via M&A), and Postmates’ valuation is a bit more conservative – perhaps reflecting its overall scale. But seeing Rappi’s ratings count surpass Doordash’s in 2019 is a terrific sign for the Colombian startup, making it potentially the one food service app with the potential to deliver real returns to its investors.