Nilus

There are over 2 billion people in the world who are affected by food insecurity, which means that they lack the minimum resources to procure a healthy meal every day. Yet, because of inefficiencies in the food supply chain, such as excessive intermediation and informality, food products in low-income neighborhoods are at least 25% more expensive than in middle-income areas. That's why they are known as food deserts.

Nilus is penetrating a market segment at the very bottom of the pyramid traditionally occupied by local convenience stores and philanthropic organizations. There are other companies seeking to penetrate the segment in Latin America, yet Nilus offers the most competitive prices in the market, thanks to the combination of community group buying networks, food rescue and last-mile logistics run on foot.

Nilus develops technology to procure food and groceries directly from farmers and producers, and distributes them among low-income people who live in food deserts through community group buying networks led by women, who consolidate individual orders to access volume discounts. The company offers products at 80% or less of their market price to families and community kitchens in food deserts, and secures its financial sustainability by operating as a digital retailer for the bottom of the pyramid.

Community leaders are the key competitive strength of Nilus, as they promote the solution among community members leveraging circles of trust, and organize the last-mile logistics using their own homes as pick-up points, thereby guaranteeing a low-cost and secure way of doing business in the community.

According to the United Nations' World Food Programme, people affected by food insecurity earn an average of $3.20 per day and spend 45% of their income on food. Considering that Nilus operates in urban settings, where over 1.5 billion low-income people live, the total available market at a global level is estimated at 998 billion US Dollars.
Nilus focuses on Latin America, and has prioritized the 12 largest urban centers in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, where over 90 million people live and 30% of them live in poverty.

Nilus operates in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, and is running a pilot operation in Miami, FL. Its revenue is currently at 3.5M ARR, and in 2022 it grew over 700% in the direct-to-consumer channel. As of March 30, 2023, Nilus had completed over 50,000 deliveries, served over 515,000 low-income people and provided a valuable source of income to over 2000 women who act or acted as our community leaders. It had also saved over 7000 tons of CO2 to the environment thanks to the food it has prevented from being wasted,