by DANIELA DIB
Argentine startup Nippy aggregates data from gig workers and sells it to companies like Mastercard and Movistar, who in turn offer workers their services.
- Nippy has set up rest stops for gig workers in Argentina, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
- The startup makes money by selling workers’ data to companies that offer benefits to gig workers.
- Workers told Rest of World they did not know Nippy was selling their data.
Every day, Fredy Ivan Alba Trejo bikes for over an hour through busy highways to reach pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of Mexico City where he works as a food delivery worker for Rappii.
His biggest challenge during the day is finding a reliable spot to use the restroom or charge his phone in an area that is far away from his home. Most restaurants don’t allow gig workers like him to use their facilities and shopping centers insist they leave their backpacks and helmets outside. “But by doing so we risk getting everything stolen,” the 29-year-old told Rest of World.
A few months ago, he found a solution to this problem when he discovered a gig workers’ pit stop run by Nippy, an Argentine startup that has built a business around the lack of spaces and benefits for workers like Alba Trejo. The company rents out small storefronts where gig workers can use clean toilets and get coffee free of charge — in exchange for downloading Nippy’s app. Nippy makes money by processing and selling the data workers register on the app to financial, insurance, and telecommunications companies it has partnered with.
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