Evaluating only Merqueo’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Unit economics as the #1 likely cause. That’s exactly how it died.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
FOUNDING
Merqueo founded
FOUNDING
Merqueo founded
DOWN ROUND
Down round or bridge financing
FUNDING
DOWN ROUND
Down round or bridge financing
CRISIS
SHUTDOWN
SHUTDOWN
Silent Shutdown: Merqueo ceases operations
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Merqueo was founded in 2015 in Bogotá by Miguel McAllister, José Calderón, and Pablo González — the same team behind Domicilios.com, Colombia's leading food delivery platform before its acquisition by Delivery Hero. They raised approximately USD 85 million across multiple rounds, including a USD 50M Series C in July 2021 co-led by IDC Ventures, DigitalBridge, and IDB Invest. Despite operating in Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil and competing directly with Rappi and Amazon Fresh, Merqueo never achieved unit economics. In June 2023 it entered Colombia's Procedimiento de Recuperación Empresarial (PRES) — a non-judicial creditor restructuring — disclosing debts of approximately COP 25,200 million (~USD 6.3M). CEO Miguel McAllister stepped down during restructuring. Despite exiting PRES within three months, the company could not secure additional capital and ceased all operations in July 2025.
Lesson
“Raising USD 50M Series C without proving unit economics at single-market scale is not a path to survival — it is a path to a more expensive failure. International expansion before sustainable home-market economics guarantees that cash burn accelerates before the revenue model does.”