Uber Eats and Credijusto to Offer Restaurants Loans

Uber Eats and Credijusto have announced a partnership through which they will be offering a digital financing solution to restaurants allied with the food delivery platform. Restaurants on the platform will be able to apply for loans that range between MX$10,000 (US$460) and MX$4 million (US$184,000) over the next 12 months.

In a videoconference this Monday, Co-Founder of Credijusto Allan Apoj detailed that the more than 25,000 restaurants registered in the Uber application will be able to request business loans, Milenio writes. They are meant to be provided at an exclusive interest rate, with terms of up to 24 months, without penalties for pre-payment, and personalized service. He stated that this financial solution was created because 40 percent of the restaurants on the Uber platform had indicated that the primary obstacle to growing their business was the lack of access to capital. “SMEs in Mexico face a significant gap: they generate more than 52 percent of GDP but only have access to 20 percent of the available credit,” said Apoj. He also indicated that more than 55 percent had affirmed that if they would have access to a loan, they would use it to expand their business. He stated that restaurants will be able to apply for a loan through an email invitation that they will receive over the next few weeks.

The loan option comes at an interesting time as COVID-19 has been depressing revenues in the restaurant sector for months. It remains to be seen if the conditions for a loan will be tied specifically to growth-related investments or can be spent more freely on aspects such as restarting activities and salaries.

Uber Eats is not the first food delivery platform engaging in financial solutions. On June 23, Banorte, one of Mexico’s largest banks, announced it had forged an alliance with Rappi, Uber Eats’ biggest competitor in the country. At the time, Contxto writes, the announcement stated that it would be focused on providing financial services, initially centered around Rappi’s userbase in Mexico. Banorte agreed to make available up to MX$4 billion(US$178.6 million) within the next 18 months for the project. About MX$3 billion (US$140 million), it specified, would be subject to performance metrics. For now, the initiative is still subject to different regulatory approvals. Rappi already has a user transaction platform called RappiPay.