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Alejandro Freund

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Alejandro Freund is an Ecuadorian entrepreneur and business executive. He co-founded the online marketplace YaEsta.com, ran Rappi's Ecuadorian operation from its launch in 2019 until early 2022, and then led the Chilean employee-benefits company Betterfly [es] in Ecuador and Peru.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Freund is from Quito.[1] He studied business administration at the University of San Andrés in Argentina and went on to a master's degree in economics and management of innovation and technology at Bocconi University in Milan. Before graduate school he spent two years in private banking.[3]

Career

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YaEsta.com

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In 2013 Freund and Martín Jara, whom he had met as a student in Argentina, returned to Ecuador and founded Revolucionatuprecio.com, a group buying site backed by the incubator Kruger Labs.[4][1] The site became the online marketplace YaEsta.com. It started with 21 products from four suppliers; by late 2015 it carried 1,500 products from 100 Ecuadorian suppliers and offered cash on delivery.[5] In 2021 Primicias reported that the research firm CB Insights had placed YaEsta.com among the best-funded startups in Latin America.[6]

The partners sold the company to Grupo Laar, an Ecuadorian logistics group, in early 2019.[2][1] Freund later described the sale as winding the company down.[7]

Rappi

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The same year, Rappi chose Freund to open its Ecuadorian operation.[1] The delivery app began working in Quito in September 2019 with 30 employees and about 400 couriers.[8] Rappi presented the service formally in November, by which time it had 100,000 registered users and was also running in Guayaquil.[9][10] A year later the app had been downloaded 500,000 times and worked with 4,500 shops and restaurants and more than 3,500 couriers in the two cities.[11] By September 2021 the Ecuadorian business had about 100 direct employees, handled some 400,000 orders a month and operated in six cities.[12]

Freund left Rappi in early 2022 after about three years in charge. He told Forbes Ecuador that he remained a partner and adviser to the Ecuadorian business.[1]

Betterfly

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In April 2022 Betterfly named Freund country officer for Ecuador as it prepared to enter the market in partnership with the insurer Chubb.[13] The app went live in Ecuador on 15 June 2022.[14] Freund said the company expected to invest US$10 million in the country over 24 months and would charge employers US$6.99 per employee per month.[2] In November 2022 Betterfly announced that he would also run its newly opened Peruvian operation.[15] Betterfly closed its businesses in Ecuador and Peru, along with three other countries, in March 2025.[16]

Other activities

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Freund is a co-founder of Polo in the Andes, which organises the Copa Credit Suisse polo tournament at the Quito Polo Club.[17]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maldonado Ordóñez, Pedro (22 June 2022). "Alejandro Freund, el jinete ecuatoriano de startups y unicornios". Forbes Ecuador (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "La 'startup' chilena Betterfly: 'Estimamos una inversión de $ 10 millones en 24 meses'". El Universo (in Spanish). 7 June 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  3. ↑ "YPA: A Conversation with Rappi's Alejandro Freund". Americas Society/Council of the Americas. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  4. ↑ Durán, Mauricio. "El comercio electrónico se concentra en Quito, Guayaquil y Cuenca". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  5. ↑ "YaEsta.com, otro portal para comprar en la web". El Universo (in Spanish). 23 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  6. ↑ Dávalos, Nelson (28 June 2021). "Una 'startup' ecuatoriana, entre las mejor financiadas de América Latina". Primicias (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  7. ↑ Lustig, Nathan (26 January 2021). "Alejandro Freund: The path to shutting down a Latin American startup, Ep 132". LatamList (Podcast notes). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  8. ↑ Torres, Wilmer (7 September 2019). "Unas 5.000 solicitudes de trabajo llegaron a Rappi, en su primera semana en Quito". Primicias (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  9. ↑ "Rappi cuenta ya con 100.000 usuarios en Ecuador". El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 7 November 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Atkins, Jacob (13 November 2019). "Rappi formalizes entrance to Ecuador, continues Latin American expansion plans". Contxto. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  11. ↑ "Rappi cumple un año en Ecuador con 500 000 descargas y nuevos servicios". El Universo (in Spanish). 25 September 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Ayala Sarmiento, Santiago (30 September 2021). "En dos años, esta aplicación ha crecido Rappi…damente en el Ecuador". Forbes Ecuador (Interview) (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Meléndez, Ángela (4 May 2022). "Betterfly llega a Ecuador con una inversión inicial de US$ 10 millones". Bloomberg Línea (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Pesantes, Karla (20 June 2022). "Estos son los unicornios de mayor crecimiento en América Latina". Primicias (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  15. ↑ "Betterfly nombra a Alejandro Freund como Country Manager para Perú para lograr llegar a la meta de ayudar a 300 millones de personas para el 2030" (Press release) (in Spanish). Betterfly. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2026 – via Revista Economía.
  16. ↑ Tomé, Matheus (24 March 2025). "Betterfly ceases operations in five Latin American countries". LatamList. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  17. ↑ "El polo intenta crecer con torneos locales". El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 15 June 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
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