On-demand courier network Postmates has launched its platform in Mexico City, representing the company’s first market outside the U.S.
Founded out of San Francisco in 2011, Postmates serves as an easy way to match consumer goods with people that are able to deliver them. The company has raised nearly $300 million in equity funding, and its service is now available in dozens of cities across the U.S., from California and Colorado to Illinois and Indiana, where it already makes around 2.5 million deliveries each month.
Today’s news comes just a day after Postmates entered the Hawaii market starting with Honolulu. But with a population of nearly nine million people, the Mexican capital will serve as an interesting test bed for Postmates as it looks to introduce its platform to international consumers and companies.
From today, more than 1,000 restaurants in Mexico City will be using Postmates to deliver food to customers across a number of areas, including Polanco, Condesa, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Roma, and Ciudad Universitaria.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
“We believe Mexico City is a perfect market for Postmates to offer its on-demand delivery service,” said Postmates CTO and cofounder Sean Plaice. “It is one of the largest urban consumer markets in the world — with a vibrant economy and food scene.”
Postmates’ first international launch comes at a time when the company has been looking to ramp up its offering to compete with others in the tech-focused logistics realm, including Amazon and Instacart. Indeed, just last week Postmates launched an on-demand grocery service called Postmates Fresh in a handful of U.S. cities.
Postmates now claims 550 employees, and for its first Mexican foray it has set up a local operational team in the capital.
“In the U.S., Postmates is known for our reliable network and an intuitive app experience, which makes it incredibly easy to unlock the best food within your city,” added Plaice. “We realize our name — Postmates — is a bit difficult to pronounce in Spanish. But we guarantee that will be the hardest part of your Postmates experience.”
Mexico City may be the first official international launch for Postmates, but the company has been flirting with other markets in recent years. CEO Bastian Lehmann previously suggested that Postmates would launch in London sometime in 2016, but that never quite materialized.
