whoever controls digital infrastructure will define grocery's future
In the quiet arithmetic of platform capitalism, iFood has taken a minority stake in Daki, a rapid-delivery grocery startup that survived the pandemic boom and its brutal aftermath. The move, announced in May 2026, is less a single transaction than the latest stitch in a deliberate strategy: rather than owning the infrastructure of grocery delivery, iFood is weaving a network of specialists into a marketplace it can orchestrate without bearing the full weight of operations. It is a wager that in complex logistics, wisdom lies not in possession but in connection.
- Grocery delivery promised easy growth during the pandemic but became a graveyard for undercapitalized platforms — only the operationally disciplined survived, and iFood once retreated from the sector entirely in 2022.
- Daki defied the carnage: founded by three entrepreneurs, it clawed back from a fallen unicorn valuation to reach breakeven, 50% annual growth, and nearly R$1 billion in annualized revenue.
- iFood's response is not to compete head-on with its own warehouses, but to acquire small equity stakes in survivors like Daki and Shopper, folding their dark-store networks into its platform while staying asset-light.
- The partnership gives Daki something capital alone cannot buy — access to millions of iFood users across Brazil — while giving iFood a logistics backbone it chose not to build itself.
- The strategy now faces its defining test: expanding beyond São Paulo and Minas Gerais in 2026, scaling AI-driven logistics, and holding profitability against rivals like Rappi who are betting on owning every link in the chain.
iFood has taken a minority stake of less than 5 percent in Daki, a rapid-delivery grocery startup, in a move announced in May 2026 that reflects a carefully constructed philosophy: build a grocery ecosystem through partnerships, not direct ownership. The investment follows a similar stake in Shopper, for which iFood led a R$150 million funding round in late 2024. The two strategies share the same logic — connect specialists rather than replicate their work.
Daki's own story is one of survival and reinvention. Founded by Rodrigo Maroja, Alex Bretzner, and Rafael Vasto, the company briefly held unicorn status in 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation before falling back to $800 million in its 2023 Series D. Rather than collapse under that correction, Daki used the intervening years to build a vertically integrated logistics chain — direct supplier relationships, dark-store fulfillment centers, and final-mile delivery — that has brought it to breakeven and 50% annual growth. Founder Rafael Vasto sees the moment as pivotal: whoever controls the digital infrastructure of grocery retail will define the sector's future.
For iFood, the path to this investment was not linear. The company once ran its own supermarket delivery network, abandoned it in 2022 to cut costs, sold its Rio de Janeiro dark stores to Cencosud, and then reversed course — rebuilding through partnerships with Justo, Shopper, and now Daki. The results have been striking: between March 2025 and March 2026, iFood's grocery vertical grew 60 percent in sales volume and expanded into every Brazilian state.
The contrast with rival Rappi is instructive. Where Rappi invests heavily in its own dark stores and logistics to guarantee speed, iFood's marketplace director Arthur Lima describes a different ambition entirely — a platform that touches no inventory, but instead applies technology, logistics algorithms, and distribution intelligence to connect consumers, retailers, and wholesalers. It is a model that trades control for scale, and its ultimate test will come as both companies push beyond Brazil's largest cities into the more complex, less forgiving terrain of the rest of the country.
iFood has quietly become a significant investor in Daki, a rapid-delivery grocery startup, acquiring a minority stake of less than 5 percent. The investment, announced in May 2026, marks the latest move in what has become a deliberate strategy: rather than building grocery delivery infrastructure from scratch, iFood is weaving together a network of specialized partners to compete in a market that once seemed like easy money during the pandemic but has proven far more difficult to sustain.
The company's path to this moment reveals a company learning from its mistakes. Eighteen months earlier, iFood had invested in Shopper, another grocery delivery platform, and that partnership has since deepened—iFood led a 150 million real funding round for Shopper in November 2024 alongside Singapore's sovereign wealth fund and Minerva. The Daki investment follows a similar playbook. The two companies began working together operationally in 2024, when iFood integrated Daki's network of dark stores—small fulfillment centers designed for rapid delivery—into its own platform, allowing customers to order groceries alongside restaurant meals. Now, with an equity stake, the relationship has moved beyond a simple commercial arrangement.
Daki itself has become a rare success story in a sector littered with casualties. The startup, founded by Rodrigo Maroja, Alex Bretzner, and Rafael Vasto, is approaching one billion reais in annualized revenue, growing at more than 50 percent annually, and has recently achieved breakeven—a milestone that separates the survivors from the rest. The company's last disclosed valuation came in 2023 during a Series D funding round, when it was valued at 800 million dollars. That represented a significant decline from 2021, when Daki briefly held unicorn status at a 1.2 billion dollar valuation, but the company has used the intervening years to build something more durable: a vertically integrated logistics chain that handles everything from direct supplier relationships to final-mile delivery.
For Daki, the iFood investment is less about capital—the terms were not disclosed—and more about distribution and validation. The company's own direct channel still accounts for the majority of its sales, but iFood's platform reaches millions of users across Brazil. With this partnership deepening, Daki plans to accelerate expansion beyond its current strongholds in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, opening new fulfillment hubs throughout 2026. Rafael Vasto, one of the founders, framed the moment as a turning point: whoever controls the digital infrastructure of grocery retail—the logistics chains built for online commerce, the AI-native technology platforms—will define the future of the sector.
iFood's own grocery ambitions have been volatile. The company once operated its own supermarket delivery network but largely abandoned it in 2022, a strategic retreat aimed at cutting costs. In Rio de Janeiro, it sold its dark store infrastructure to the Cencosud group. That pullback, however, proved temporary. Within months, iFood began rebuilding through partnerships, bringing platforms like Justo, Shopper, and Daki into its ecosystem. The strategy has worked: between March 2025 and March 2026, iFood's grocery vertical grew 60 percent in sales volume, added nearly 3,000 new retail partners, and expanded into every state in the country.
This approach—acting as a neutral marketplace rather than a direct operator—distinguishes iFood from competitors like Rappi, which continues to invest heavily in its own dark stores and logistics infrastructure to guarantee speed. Arthur Lima, iFood's director of marketplace operations, articulated the company's philosophy plainly: iFood does not buy or warehouse products. Instead, it focuses on technology, logistics algorithms, and distribution intelligence to connect consumers, retailers, and wholesalers transparently. It is a model built on the assumption that speed and efficiency come not from owning everything but from orchestrating a network of specialists.
The grocery delivery market itself remains treacherous terrain. The pandemic created a temporary boom—companies like Cornershop, now owned by Uber, once thrived—but the sector contracted sharply once lockdowns ended. Only platforms that could sustain profitability through operational excellence survived. Daki and Rappi have managed it; most others have not. iFood's bet is that by connecting its massive user base to Daki's logistics infrastructure, both companies can grow faster than either could alone. Whether that partnership can scale beyond Brazil's largest metros, and whether it can maintain profitability while competing against entrenched players, remains the open question.
Citações Notáveis
The future of supermarket retail will be determined by whoever masters digital infrastructure—a logistics chain designed for online commerce and an AI-native technology platform. Daki has built this infrastructure, is growing rapidly, and already operates at breakeven.— Rafael Vasto, Daki founder
iFood does not buy or warehouse products. Our focus is evolving technology, logistics, and distribution intelligence to connect consumers, retailers, and wholesalers transparently and impartially.— Arthur Lima, iFood's director of marketplace operations
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does iFood keep investing in grocery delivery when it already dominates restaurants? Isn't that a distraction?
It's not distraction—it's survival. Restaurants are saturated. Every competitor from 99Food to Keeta is fighting for the same market. Grocery is different. It's a bigger total addressable market, and the pandemic proved people will order food online. The challenge is making it profitable.
But iFood tried this before and pulled back. What changed?
They learned something crucial: they can't do it alone. Building dark stores, managing logistics, handling inventory—that's capital intensive and operationally complex. By partnering with specialists like Daki that have already solved those problems, iFood gets scale without the risk.
So iFood is essentially renting Daki's infrastructure?
More than that. iFood is providing distribution—access to millions of users—while Daki provides the logistics backbone. It's symbiotic. Daki's own channel still drives most revenue, but iFood's platform is incremental demand that doesn't require Daki to build new infrastructure.
Why take an equity stake instead of just a commercial partnership?
Alignment. An equity stake means iFood has skin in the game if Daki succeeds. It also signals confidence to other investors and customers. And if the partnership works, iFood has optionality—they could deepen it further, like they did with Shopper.
Is this sustainable? Grocery delivery margins are notoriously thin.
Daki has reached breakeven and is growing 50 percent annually. That's rare. They've done it by building a vertically integrated chain—controlling everything from supplier relationships to delivery. Most competitors couldn't sustain that. iFood's bet is that Daki's model is replicable across Brazil.