Rapido is all set to receive USD 50 million in a fresh round from new and existing investors, according to three sources aware of the deal. The mobility firm has banked US$30 million from WestBridge Capital, while new and existing investors including Nexus Venture Partners and Motherson have poured US$20 million into the company. Founded in 2015, Rapido is an Indian online bike taxi aggregator and logistics service provider based out of Bangalore, India. Besides bike taxis, it has also frayed into on-demand auto hailing service in December. Rapido has been enabling last-mile delivery for e-commerce companies for about two years.
The fresh capital for the startup has come after a gap of 20 months. Rapido had raised $55 million in its Series B round led by WestBridge Capital in August 2019. The fresh proceeds will help the Bengaluru-based company to streamline its operations and score a lead on its competition such as Ola Bike and Uber Moto. At present, Rapido provides bike taxi services in around 100 cities. It recently launched an hourly rental service in six major cities.
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While the company had posted a loss of Rs 243.6 crore during FY20, its topline shot up 10X to Rs 106.5 crore during the period. Comparatively, its revenue was much better than the majority of growth-stage startups of its age.
Rapido recently announced joining hands with Zypp Electric, to provide EV bike taxi ride service Rapido EV – to its customers. It will provide 100+ riders and electric two-wheelers from Zypp as part of its fleet. The service will be a pilot run for three months and will be tested for its demand and veracity in the Delhi-NCR area. Rapido is looking to onboard more such EV partners to further expand this business model across its Tier I market in the country.
In a recent interview, Rapido claimed to have achieved about 75% of its pre-Covid volume. However, with the lockdown and curfew restrictions in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, its business is likely to be disrupted again.
