Five years after coming up with the proposal to reinvent online grocery shopping, in believes he has reached a turning point. The startup, which operates with deliveries in a few minutes and its own stock, claims to have consolidated a scalable model for the category and is now preparing a new phase of growth, marked by geographic expansion and new investments in technology.
According to Rafael Vasto, CEO and co-founder of inthe company is close to R$1 billion in annualized revenue, grows more than 50% per year and records an average delivery time of less than 15 minutes. For him, these indicators reflect the maturation of an operation built from the beginning to operate in the digital environment.
“We arrived at a scalable playbook. We were able to deliver profitable orders, high customer satisfaction and a differentiated value proposition. Now, the time is to think about the coming years”, he states, in an interview with Startups.
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The opportunity, Rafael points out, is still significant. Although supermarkets are one of the largest categories in Brazilian retail, the majority of purchases continue to take place in the physical world. At the same time, the online segment does not yet have a consolidated leader, unlike the meal delivery market. “We have a business worth billions of reais in a market worth trillions. The potential is still orders of magnitude greater than what is being captured today”, he assesses.
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The return of expansion
The possibility of a new geographic expansion has once again gained ground in discussions at the in. After a period focused on consolidating its operation in the Southeast and refining its business model, the company began to evaluate the next steps to expand its presence in the country. “We maintained geographic coverage in the Southeast. Who knows, perhaps it will soon be time to resume expansion”, says Rafael.
The company has not yet revealed cities or targets, but confirms that the topic is at the center of conversations with investors and the strategy for the coming years. “We want to take the business to more customers. To do this, we need to expand geographically. We are still defining the plans internally and, when we have news, we will open it to the market”, says Rafael.
The new phase of in it also occurs amid a reorganization of the delivery market in Brazil. While iFood, Rabbits, 99 and Keeta competing for space in categories such as meals, convenience and fast deliveries, the startup maintained its focus on the digital supermarket. The strategy contrasts with that of several players that entered the segment in recent years and ended up reducing operations or redirecting their businesses in the face of the challenges of scaling the category.
In Rafael’s assessment, the permanence of in It is linked to the decision to build our own operation from the beginning, focusing on logistics, technology and customer experience. “We built the business with the structural belief of what would need to happen for the digital supermarket to be successful, and we remained faithful to that vision”, he states.
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The expansion is accompanied by a continuous evolution of the company’s value proposition. “The world changes very quickly, from the deadlines people wait for to the products they want to buy. It’s very dynamic. We want to be ahead in everything that involves the customer experience and continue investing on that front”, he highlights.
iFood no captable
A new phase of growth takes place. Announced in May, the investment formalized a relationship that had already existed operationally since 2024, when the in became part of the platform’s ecosystem. THE iFood acquired a stake of less than 5%, in an operation whose value was not disclosed.
According to Rafael, the entrance to the iFood does not alter the company’s independence or its long-term strategy. “They are a minority equity investor, just like the others we have”, he states.
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The partnership, according to him, reinforces the shared vision that there is still relevant room for growth in the online supermarket market.
Even so, Rafael highlights that most of the company’s sales in continues to come from the company’s own channels. “The majority of sales volume comes from our proprietary platform. It is a platform in which we continue to invest heavily”, he says.
Investments in AI
Another pillar of the company’s strategy is artificial intelligence. Although the topic has gained prominence in recent years, Rafael states that the in has been building its data infrastructure since its founding.
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According to him, the company developed proprietary products and bases that now allow AI to be applied at different stages of the operation. “When you take our pitch from 2021, machine learning and artificial intelligence already appeared as a central point”, he states.
The technology is used both in consumer-facing features and in internal processes. Examples cited by the executive include product recommendation systems during checkout, personalization of CRM campaigns according to each customer’s profile and the automation of operational activities, such as the reconciliation of tax data sent by suppliers.
“Today we have a series of agents working in each of these stages, which allows us to make decisions much faster and more granular”, he points out.
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For Rafael, the recent acceleration of AI has found the company in a favorable position. “We were very well prepared for this and we considered the in a native AI company.”
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Loyalty as the next frontier
In addition to geographic expansion, the in continues to invest in strengthening its own channel. One of the initiatives is Clube Daki, a loyalty program that offers recurring benefits, including free deliveries.
Although it is still in its initial stage, the service already accounts for a relevant portion of the company’s sales. “More than 10% of purchases already come from the club”, says Rafael.
For the company, investing in loyalty makes sense in a category marked by recurring purchases and the need to build consumption habits in the digital environment.
The strengthening of Clube Daki adds to the geographic expansion plans and investments in technology that the company is preparing for the coming years. For Rafael, these initiatives should help the company reach more consumers and expand its participation in the online supermarket market.
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