// STARTUP COMPARISON
Rappi (2022 crisis) vs Habitissimo
Rappi (2022 crisis) failed in 2022 due to Unit Economics. Habitissimo failed in 2020 due to Acquisition Gone Wrong. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Rappi (2022 crisis) | 🔥 Habitissimo |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Marketplace | Marketplace |
| Country | Colombia | Spain |
| Founded | 2015 | 2009 |
| Died | 2022 | 2020 |
| Raised | $2B | €10M |
| Peak | $5.25B valuation | €15M revenue |
| Primary Cause | Unit Economics | Acquisition Gone Wrong |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 Rappi (2022 crisis)
Unit Economics
Rappi, Colombia's first unicorn and Latin America's most funded startup, raised $2B and reached a $5.25B valuation. The 2022 global tech downturn exposed chronic unit economics problems — delivery subsidies, low basket sizes, and high customer acquisition costs made the path to profitability unclear. Rappi laid off approximately 6% of its workforce in 2022 and cut unprofitable verticals.
// LESSON
Super-app strategies require the core vertical to be profitable before adding adjacencies. Each new vertical is a bet funded by the core. If the core bleeds, every adjacency accelerates the bleeding.
Super-app strategies require the core vertical to be profitable before adding adjacencies. Each new vertical is a bet funded by the core. If the core bleeds, every adjacency accelerates the bleeding.
🔥 Habitissimo
Acquisition Gone Wrong
Habitissimo was Spain and Latin America's leading home services marketplace, connecting homeowners with contractors. It was acquired by ANGI Homeservices (HomeAdvisor) in 2017. Post-acquisition, local product focus deteriorated, engineering teams were dispersed across ANGI's global structure, and Habitissimo's market position eroded as local competitors rebuilt trust with Spanish users.
// LESSON
Marketplace network effects are hyper-local. Trust cannot be managed remotely. Acquiring a marketplace and running it from another continent destroys the very thing that made it valuable.
Marketplace network effects are hyper-local. Trust cannot be managed remotely. Acquiring a marketplace and running it from another continent destroys the very thing that made it valuable.
// EXPLORE FURTHER