The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Strategic decision · 2019–2026
Instaleap's retailer-OS bet wins: 100M transactions, then Instacart acquires it
Bogotá-founded Instaleap built fulfillment software for LatAm grocers and became Instacart's entry into international markets in April 2026.
Instaleap
What the business is
Software platform that manages e-commerce orders, picking, routing, logistics and customer experience for grocery and retail chains.
Starting capital：About US$20M in venture funding (Redwood Capital Partners, Axon Partners Group, Grupo Pegasus among investors) across rounds by 2023.
How it started
Portuguese founders Antonio dos Santos Nunes and Margarida Freitas had spent years building Latin American commerce and delivery companies when they chose Bogotá in 2019. Grocery e-commerce was growing across the region but chains had no reliable way to run their own online operations, so the pair started Instaleap as a fulfillment solutions platform for those retailers.
What happened
Instaleap expanded from Colombia to Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, onboarding nearly 100 retailers and marketplaces including Cencosud (Jumbo), Éxito, Makro, Continente, Jerónimo Martins, Lulu and SPAR. The company processed more than 100 million transactions, was admitted to Endeavor's entrepreneur network, and kept building while regional venture funding contracted after 2021.
How it ended up
Instacart announced the acquisition on 2026-04-14 (terms undisclosed). Instaleap initially operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, giving Instacart — whose delivery network only exists in North America — an enterprise-led entry into Latin America and the Middle East, with plans to extend Instacart's own retail technology to Instaleap's partners.
Background
Instaleap is a Colombian fulfillment technology company founded in Bogotá in 2019 by Portuguese entrepreneurs Antonio dos Santos Nunes and Margarida Freitas, veterans of regional commerce and delivery companies. Its product is not a consumer app but the operating system behind grocery e-commerce: order management, picking, routing, logistics and customer experience for retail chains.
The founders' bet was that supermarkets and pharmacies across Latin America would rather own their digital channels than depend on marketplaces or delivery aggregators. Instaleap grew to nearly 100 retail clients and marketplaces in about 30 countries — including Cencosud (Jumbo), Éxito, Makro, Continente, Jerónimo Martins, Lulu and SPAR — and processed more than 100 million transactions.
On 14 April 2026, Instacart announced it had acquired Instaleap for undisclosed terms. Instacart's consumer delivery service operates only in North America, but its enterprise commerce platform powers 380+ grocers there; the deal gives it an immediate international footprint and a technology team that already serves retailers across Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
Instaleap initially runs as a wholly owned subsidiary of Instacart, which plans to extend its own e-commerce, retail-media and in-store technology to Instaleap's retail partners over time. The acquisition validated a seven-year regional build: Instacart chose Instaleap's technology and retailer relationships as the vehicle for its non-North-American expansion.
What has to be true
- Instaleap reached about 100 retailers and marketplaces in nearly 30 countries from a Bogotá base, proving its model outside its home market.
- More than 100 million processed transactions gave Instacart a working international volume base instead of a from-scratch rollout.
- Its client roster — Cencosud, Éxito, Makro, Jerónimo Martins and others — handed Instacart relationships with grocery chains it could not reach from North America.
- The founders deliberately built B2B rails rather than a consumer brand, avoiding the delivery-app war while still owning the last-mile problem.
- Instacart's ~$9.7B market capitalization and 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $1.09B gave it the balance sheet and motive to buy international entry rather than build it.
What can be applied
In emerging markets the winning infrastructure play is often invisible: sell the rails to retailers instead of racing them for consumers, and an acquirer pays for your relationships.
Aftermath
As of mid-April 2026 Instaleap operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Instacart after the acquisition announced on 2026-04-14 (terms undisclosed). It keeps serving retail clients in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East under existing leadership during the transition, while Instacart plans to extend its enterprise products — e-commerce, retail media, AI and in-store technology — to Instaleap's partners. The deal is Instacart's most concrete international move and made a technology built in Colombia part of a US public company's global portfolio.
Sources
- Instacart acquires Instaleap to expand its enterprise platform internationally
- Instacart compra Instaleap, plataforma usada por supermercados que nació en Colombia
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