Brazil’s Top Delivery App Files Complaint Against Chinese Rival

The Brazilian unit of Prosus NV filed a complaint against China’s Meituan with the South American nation’s antitrust regulator, accusing its rival of using artificially low prices to squash competition.

Prosus’ unit, iFood, is calling on the antitrust agency to investigate the unit economics of Meituan’s Keeta business, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Keeta arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s wealthiest city, nearly a year ago, and has aggressively sought to capture market share.

Both companies offer web-based delivery of prepared food. The market share of iFood was estimated to be around 75% last year before Keeta’s arrival.

Read more: Chinese Apps Take Off in Brazil as Rivals Pile On Perks

The complaint underscores intensifying competition for web-based services in Brazil. In the filing to the regulator, known as Cade, iFood accuses Keeta of using its parent company’s cash reserves to subsidize discounts on orders of 250 reais ($45) or less and undercutting restaurant fees.

“This is not a competition based on merit, but on who has the deepest pockets to finance aggressive discounts for restaurants and high payouts to couriers at the same time,” Lucas Marini Pittioni, iFood’s senior vice president of legal affairs, public policy and M&A, said in an interview.

Cade’s Department of Economic Studies is already investigating competitive dynamics in the local food delivery sector. In a note sent to Cade in June, iFood warned of risks posed by “deep-pocketed” entrants operating at sustained losses to consolidate dominance. In May, iFood filed a civil lawsuit against Meituan’s Keeta in Sao Paulo’s business court for unfair competition.

Pittioni said iFood continues to grow year-over-year and has reached a record number of active couriers while it expands its subscriber base, but added that the subsidies are disrupting the sector. His company has recently added deliveries of groceries, pet supplies and pharmaceutical products.

Global delivery platforms are expanding overseas amid tighter regulations and slower growth in China, where Meituan faced antitrust scrutiny in recent years. Keeta entered Brazil in 2025 with a plan to invest $1 billion over five years. It has quickly added customers and surpassed another competitor, Rappi, in monthly active users within three months of arriving, according to Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst at market intelligence firm Sensor Tower Inc.

iFood warned that delayed regulatory action in Brazil risks replicating patterns seen in markets like Hong Kong and the Middle East, where rapid entry subsidized by heavy cash burn was followed by rival exits and subsequent fee hikes on merchants.

Neither Keeta nor Cade immediately responded to requests for comment outside normal business hours.

Meituan acknowledged in its second-quarter results that Brazil is “very attractive” but also “quite different” from other markets.

In early August, Uber Chief Financial Officer Balaji Krishnamurthy said that the moderation in its second-quarter trips growth was attributable to elevated competition for two-wheel drivers from delivery platforms in Brazil. Uber and iFood started a partnership in late 2025.