On December 1, 2025, Meituan’s international food-delivery brand Keeta entered São Paulo, Brazil, and eight surrounding cities, launching a “USD 1 billion over five years” investment plan. To open the market, Keeta is taking three actions: investing BRL 1 billion (approximately USD 200 million) in technology construction, waiving delivery fees for 90% of restaurants, and establishing a rider support center. But the market Keeta is entering is fiercely competitive: it must face the locally dominant iFood, which holds about 80% share and has a RMB 22 billion (approximately USD 3.06 billion) counter-investment, as well as its long-time rival from China, Didi’s 99Food, which competes aggressively. In this market worth tens of billions with annual growth of over 20%, the competition will test the depth of Chinese internet companies’ overseas expansion.
Can Meituan Keeta’s landing in São Paulo shake up Brazil’s tens-of-billions food-delivery market?
On December 1, Meituan’s international food-delivery brand Keeta officially went live in São Paulo, with service covering the city and eight surrounding core cities, and its pledged “USD 1 billion over five years” investment plan was fully set in motion.
To quickly open the market, Keeta announced a key “three-pronged” strategy: investing BRL 1 billion (approximately USD 200 million) for technology construction, offering zero delivery fees for 90% of partner restaurants, and establishing a rider support center. During its pilot operation in Santos and São Vicente, Keeta performed well: the number of partner restaurants grew by 60% to reach 1,600; the number of registered riders grew by 135% to as many as 4,700.
This set of “three-pronged” tactics is the result of validation and iteration in Keeta’s earlier overseas markets. As Meituan’s international delivery brand focused on overseas markets, since its establishment in 2023 Keeta’s globalization path has been clear: starting with Hong Kong, China, as the first station and achieving success; then advancing into Saudi Arabia in 2024 and rapidly covering multiple Middle Eastern countries; and by 2025 shifting its strategic focus to Brazil, a key market.
Facing a Brazilian market that is growing rapidly yet has a stable structure, Keeta’s entry is not a simple business copy-and-paste. Brazil’s food-delivery market has already exceeded USD 12 billion, with an annual growth rate of over 20%, and a large number of orders are still completed through traditional channels, providing clear room for growth for new platforms. However, the market is already dominated by the local giant iFood, and it must also deal with competition from Chinese peer Didi.
Meituan’s decision to invest heavily to enter Brazil at this time is a key battle aimed at a structural opportunity.
Why is Keeta making a strong push into Brazil? Meituan’s threefold considerations
Meituan’s choice of Brazil as a key battleground for globalization is based on threefold considerations—market, policy, and strategy. For the Chinese food-delivery model that aspires to “go global,” the Brazilian market is not a tranquil harbor, but a true ocean-going test for sailors, an “ultimate examination room” that tests technology, capital, and localized operational capabilities.
First, Brazil provides an irreplaceable market base. This is a huge incremental market of 210 million people, especially with those under 35 accounting for over 54%. A survey by the Brazilian Food Service Institute shows that among young people aged 15 to 28 in São Paulo, the proportion who have used delivery services has reached 51%, far higher than the national average of 40%. Statista data show that the size of its delivery market in 2025 is expected to reach USD 21.18 billion, but penetration is still under 20%, far from the ceiling. At the same time, Brazil’s mobile-payment penetration of over 70%, a mature digital ecosystem, and a large pool of motorcycle delivery capacity clear away infrastructure obstacles for the replication and rollout of delivery platforms. All this forms the solid “floor” that makes the investment stand.
However, the real turning point lies in the gap pried open by policy. In 2025, Brazil formally implemented new anti-monopoly rules, explicitly prohibiting “either-or” exclusivity agreements between delivery platforms and merchants. Previously, the local hegemon iFood used exactly this to build a moat of as high as 80% market share. This policy change means that, for the first time, the market doors are open equally to new players, allowing Keeta to bypass the biggest barrier and speak directly to merchants and consumers. The opportunity window has appeared.
The policy green light is on and the stage is broader than ever. Yet when Keeta actually set foot on this land, it found that the leading actors on stage were already at full battle stations.
On a Brazilian battlefield attacked from both front and back, how will Keeta break the deadlock with its “three-pronged” strategy?
Although policy lights have turned green, the Brazilian market that Keeta is entering is anything but smooth sailing. It faces a complex situation of “a fierce tiger ahead and hungry wolves behind”: it must confront head-on the local giant iFood with 80% market share, and also keep a constant watch on the equally China-originated old rival Didi 99Food.
iFood’s defensive system is complete and solid. In the face of challenge, iFood quickly launched a counter-investment of as much as RMB 22 billion (approximately USD 3.06 billion), reinforcing its competitive barriers across multiple fronts—from commission subsidies and rider benefits to user price wars. More crucially, its more than decade-long operation has accumulated deeply cooperative networks with local banks and telecom operators; such locally rooted ecosystem advantages are hard for a new player to surpass in the short term.
The competition from Didi 99Food is more direct and aggressive. After returning to the Brazilian market, Didi 99Food adopted all-around blocking moves, including scrambling for merchants with “either-or” advance payments, bidding on the keyword “Keeta” in search engines to siphon traffic, and even initiating trademark lawsuits. This “internal friction among Chinese companies” has unexpectedly benefited iFood, which means Keeta must fight two tough battles at the same time.
Under the dual pressure, Meituan did not choose to confront with simple subsidies, but introduced a “three-pronged” strategy. This strategy is a localized system designed to build a healthy ecosystem among merchants, riders, and users.
The first prong: for merchants—promises of “technology investment” and “zero delivery fee” to achieve cost reduction and empowerment.
Keeta precisely targets market pain points. On one hand, it bears delivery fees for 90% of partner restaurants and keeps the platform commission at 15%–20% (significantly lower than iFood’s 25%–30%), directly “reducing costs” for merchants. On the other hand, its BRL 1 billion (approximately USD 200 million) technology investment translates into “empowerment” for merchants by providing free SaaS management systems and expert operational guidance to local restaurants with low digitalization levels. Pilot data show that merchants receiving guidance saw their order conversion rates increase by an average of 28%.
The second prong: for riders—building a “rider support center” to establish the foundation of protection and incentives.
Aiming at the pain point of delivery capacity, Keeta launched a BRL 100 million rider support plan (approximately USD 20 million). This not only provides free equipment and rest spaces, but also, through cooperation with local insurance companies, offers riders affordable accident and medical insurance, addressing the fundamental problem of lacking protection. At the same time, relying on refined operations such as “tiered order dispatch,” it ensures riders obtain higher and more stable income.
The third prong: for users—leveraging “technology investment” to optimize experience and amplifying value with “zero delivery fee.”
Keeta combines the “on-time guarantee” compensation promise with an intelligent dispatch system to ensure an average delivery time of 32 minutes, building trust. At the same time, drawing on Meituan’s “on-demand retail” experience, it plans to launch all categories such as supermarkets and pharmaceuticals, creating a capability of “everything delivered home in 30 minutes,” transforming delivery from an “emergency need” into a “daily habit.” In operations, by cooperating with over 100 local KOLs, launching social challenges (topic view counts exceeding 5 million), and “invite a friend to get BRL 8 (approximately USD 1.60)” viral-growth activities, it rapidly achieves user growth.
While Keeta attempts to build a new ecosystem with its “three-pronged” approach, its two main opponents—the local hegemon iFood and the domestic peer Didi 99Food—have also delineated the battlefield boundaries from entirely different directions, forcing Keeta into a difficult two-front war.
Keeta: handing in a “new globalization answer sheet” for China’s food-delivery going overseas
Keeta’s launch in São Paulo under Meituan marks the shift of Chinese food-delivery platforms’ globalization strategy from “model replication” to “technology export + ecosystem building.” In the face of iFood’s local barriers and competition from Didi 99Food, Keeta seeks to break the deadlock with its “three-pronged” approach. The core is not subsidies, but localized reconstruction using Meituan’s mature technology, establishing a new three-party win-win ecosystem. This reveals the key to Chinese companies’ transformation in going overseas: when subsidies and model replication fail, only by cultivating “localized operations + technological moats + ecosystem synergy” can they gain a foothold in complex markets.
In the future, the globalization path of Chinese food-delivery companies will rely more on technological empowerment and local integration. Keeta’s experience shows that efficiency advantages brought by technology are more sustainable than short-term subsidies, and that deep operations that respect local laws and cultural nuances are the key to breaking the monopoly of giants. Starting from São Paulo, the yellow silhouettes of Keeta’s riders carry not only orders, but also reflect the ambition of Chinese internet enterprises to participate in reshaping global commerce with long-term thinking—when digital capabilities deeply integrate with local needs, the story of food-delivery going overseas can sail from the “deep-water zone” toward the vast blue ocean.
[Disclaimer]: The above content reflects analysis of publicly available information, expert insights, and BCC research. It does not constitute investment advice. BCC is not responsible for any losses resulting from reliance on the views expressed herein. Investors should exercise caution.