iFood, the market leader in Brazilian food delivery, will invest R$ 24 billion in the country over the fiscal year running from April 2026 to March 2027, a 41% increase over the R$ 17 billion of the previous cycle. The company announced the plan on Wednesday (16) at its MOVE 2026 event in São Paulo, in a year that marks its 15th anniversary.
According to Exame, about R$ 10 billion will go to commerce verticals (restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, pet shops, beverages, convenience and gifts), R$ 5 billion to the financial arm iFood Pago, R$ 1 billion to the benefits program and more than R$ 2 billion to technology and innovation. On the artificial intelligence front, the company is developing with Prosus the LCM (Large Commerce Model), trained on the platform's own data, and preparing an assistant that lets restaurant owners manage operations conversationally.
The new cycle coincides with the arrival of Chinese competitors in Brazilian delivery, such as 99Food and Keeta, InfoMoney reports. In an interview with Folha de S.Paulo, one of Brazil's leading newspapers, CEO Diego Barreto acknowledged a tough environment and said the company's answer is innovation.
"It is a fact that this is a challenging year from a macroeconomic point of view. Delinquency is high, inflation is high, interest rates are high, and that is a challenge. But within our culture, the logic has never been to look at these elements, but rather at innovation."
Scale, credit and new fronts
The platform connects some 65 million consumers to 500,000 businesses across 2,800 cities, with 600,000 couriers and more than 180 million orders a month. A study by the Fipe research institute, cited by Folha, estimates the chain moved R$ 167 billion in the Brazilian economy in 2025, equal to 0.70% of GDP, and is tied to 1.18 million direct and indirect jobs. In the fiscal year ended in March, net revenue reached R$ 10.1 billion, up 29%, with EBITDA of R$ 2.2 billion, according to Exame.
Among the new verticals, the company projects growth above 60% in supermarkets and 70% in pharmacies this year, and above 100% in pet shops, beverages, convenience and gifts. Hits, its low-price, free-delivery meal offering, expands to medium-sized cities, while Turbo, with deliveries in up to 20 minutes, moves beyond the main state capitals to other large cities and starts serving pharmacies, grocery stores and pet shops. At iFood Pago, used today by about 10% of the restaurants on the platform, the target is 70% growth this year, driven mainly by credit for merchants. Testing of a consumer credit card begins in October.
The company expects total courier income to rise by about 20% and is multiplying by ten, to R$ 10 million, its funding of Chega Junto, a program on safety, health and education for couriers. Barreto told Folha he supports regulating app work, with minimum pay tied to Brazil's monthly minimum wage of R$ 1,621, expense reimbursement, insurance and pension contributions, though he sees little room for a bill to pass in Congress this year. For restaurants and shop owners, the cycle promises more credit and new sales channels just as competition with the Chinese groups heats up; for consumers, it brings faster deliveries across more categories and, soon, credit. About 30% of iFood's results already come from businesses beyond food delivery, a share Barreto says could reach 50% within two years. "My head is not on profitability. My head is on growing," he told Exame.