99minutos

Alumni Q&A

How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)

The idea came to one of the founders and two friends at a hookah bar, when they wanted charcoal delivered quickly and realized fast e-commerce delivery did not exist. They launched an e-commerce store in Mexico City promising delivery within 99 minutes, but after the two friends left, the remaining solo founder dropped the store and focused solely on delivery.

How did you decide to apply to Y Combinator? What was your experience applying, going through the batch, and fundraising at demo day?

The company applied to YC's W20 batch after roughly five years operating, using acceptance as a way to reach VCs able to invest more than $2M, which was difficult for Latin American founders raising in Mexico at the time. During the batch they raised $5M in three days via SAFEs over Zoom calls.

How have you kept in touch with the YC community and continued to use YC resources & programs since the batch ended?

The founders stay connected with the YC community through several group chats among the companies.

What's the history of your company from getting started until the present day? What were the big inflection points?

The company began eight years ago as an e-commerce store focused on fast delivery, then dropped the store to concentrate on building delivery technology. A $1M investment from a logistics consulting firm led to nearly three years near bankruptcy until the founder bought back the shares in 2018, after which the company expanded to Chile and connected multiple cities. In 2019 it was selling over $5M a year with positive EBITDA, applied to YC and raised $5M in SAFEs; in 2021 it raised $25M from Kaszek and Prosus and launched four verticals (fulfill99, ruta99, punto99, Cash99), and in 2022 raised $82M from Oak HC. It now operates in 4 countries and 70+ cities with more than 8,000 employees, growing 3x annually.

What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?

The company provides end-to-end logistics for e-commerce sellers, offering the full logistics cycle including inventory handling, delivery within hours, full visibility, drop-off and pick-up points, cash on delivery, and SaaS routing tools. When it launched, the average delivery time in Mexico was 12 days.

What is your long-term vision? If you truly succeed, what will be different about the world?

The founders aim to be the leading e-commerce logistics provider in Latin America, bringing developed-market logistics solutions to the region.