The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Strategic decision · 2015–2025
Merqueo online supermarket closes after $66M funding
Founded in Bogotá in 2015, Merqueo bet on online groceries; demand fell post-pandemic, pivot failed, closed July 2025.
Merqueo
What the business is
Merqueo was a Colombian online supermarket: users placed orders in the app, and the company delivered to homes through its own warehousing and delivery network. At peak it covered 22 cities and had entered Mexico and Brazil; in 2024 it shifted to an 'online + convenience store' hybrid model.
Starting capital：Cumulative funding exceeded $66M, with investors including Fuel Ventures, IDC Ventures, DigitalBridge, IDB Invest and Quona Capital; when it entered corporate restructuring proceedings in 2023, it carried debt of over 252 hundred million (25.2 billion) Colombian pesos (about $60M).
How it started
Miguel McAllister, José Calderón and Pablo González, three Domicilios.com veterans, founded Merqueo in Bogotá in 2015, betting that Colombia's urban middle class would pay for fresh produce and household goods delivered to their doors. The pandemic became the biggest catalyst: lockdowns pushed demand to a peak, the company converted Movistar Arena into a temporary logistics center, expanded to 22 cities and entered Mexico and Brazil.
What happened
In 2022 the company attempted a Nasdaq listing without success, and in the same year former Domicilios.com executive Felipe Ossa became CEO. After demand fell as the pandemic receded, in 2023 the company entered Colombia's non-judicial corporate restructuring proceeding (PRES) with debt of over 252 hundred million (25.2 billion) pesos, exited within 3 months, and transferred the brand to Plan B Investments, the operator of Tiendas Ísimo. In 2024 the company pivoted to physical stores: it opened 5 Merqueo Conveniencia convenience stores in Bogotá's Chicó, Chapinero and other areas, planned to open 5 more, but funding never materialized.
How it ended up
Closed: around July 14, 2025, Merqueo's website, app and physical stores all stopped operating; no official announcement was published. The company said the reason was inability to obtain new capital, formally exiting the Colombian market.
Background
Merqueo is a microcosm of the decade-long Colombian online supermarket bet: founded in 2015 by Domicilios.com team members Miguel McAllister, José Calderón and Pablo González, it bet that urban consumers would move grocery shopping to an app. The pandemic pushed demand to its peak; the company converted Bogotá's Movistar Arena into a temporary logistics center to handle peaks, covered 22 cities at peak, replicated the model in Mexico and Brazil, and raised more than $66M cumulatively.
The turning point began in 2022: the Nasdaq listing did not succeed, and Felipe Ossa replaced the founder as CEO. After the pandemic receded, online demand declined; in 2023 the company entered non-judicial restructuring proceedings (PRES) with debt of over 252 hundred million (25.2 billion) Colombian pesos, exited 3 months later, but transferred the brand to the operator of Tiendas Ísimo. In 2024 the company bet on 'convenience': it opened 5 Merqueo Conveniencia convenience stores in Bogotá, referencing Oxxo and 7-Eleven, and planned to connect online orders with physical stores.
The pivot did not save the company. The planned 5 additional stores stalled because funding did not arrive; around July 14, 2025, the website, app and stores all stopped operating, and there was not even an official closure announcement. The company's stated reason was inability to obtain new capital. For Latin American digital retail, Merqueo leaves a warning: if the convenience advantage of fast delivery lacks normalized unit economics, when capital recedes even the wind-down is silent.
What has to be true
- Demand was borrowed: pandemic-bonus demand was mistaken for long-term product-market fit; once life returned to normal, orders and repeat purchases fell together.
- Unit economics never worked: high costs of self-operated warehousing and last-mile delivery meant that scaling up actually widened losses.
- The pivot was too late and capital-dependent: the company only shifted to a convenience-store model in 2024, while new funding never arrived, directly stalling the plan for 5 new stores.
- Capital narrative reversed: after the failed listing, the funding environment deteriorated; investors stopped paying for a 'growth first' story, and debt restructuring only delayed the outcome.
What can be applied
Pandemic demand can mask weak unit economics; when normal returns, capital dries up and even shutdown announcements fail.
Aftermath
As of 2025-07-15: Merqueo's website, app and all stores had stopped operating; the company did not publish a formal announcement and only confirmed to media that it closed because it could not obtain new capital, formally exiting the Colombian market; no public follow-up details were available on the disposal of its historical debts and assets.
Sources
- Merqueo cierra operaciones en Colombia
- Se despide el supermercado más innovador del país: cerró todas sus tiendas y su página web ya no funciona
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