Bike taxi app Rapido has raised $10 million in a fresh round of funding led by Integrated Capital based out of Hongkong with participation from other existing investors such as US-led Skycatchr, AdvantEdge and Astrac Ventures. Rapido currently has operations in 16 cities.
Ride-sharing business in India has seen an unusual reverse progression of the four-wheelers first making a mark and now the focus turning to the two-wheeler segment seeing a lot of activity. With increased traffic bottlenecks in major Indian cities, mobility by 2-wheelers is the faster option.
Talking about the fresh round of funding Aravind Sanka Co-Founder, Rapido, "65% of our users use Rapido as a daily commute option. We are tapping into daily commutes which are 80% of the overall rides in the country. This opportunity isn't limited to top 10 markets but goes beyond more than 100 cities. We will use these funds to further strengthen our leadership position in the space and expand across all major cities in India, aiming to reach 25 cities by the end of this year. Currently Rapido does 2.5 million orders a month and plans to grow to 20 million orders by the end of this year."
Rapido was founded by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli and Aravind Sanka. The startup boasts of 10,000 active “captains” as it likes to call its drivers, including women. They give the option to anyone with the basic requirements, a two-wheeler license, a bike, a vehicle registration certificate, and bike insurance. The Rapido app is available on both Android and iOS Phones and can be used in different vernacular languages as well, like Kannada and Telugu, Tamil besides Hindi and English.
“India's ride-sharing is beyond four wheelers and we see two-wheeler ride-sharing is unlocking new customer base in India by bringing convenience at an affordable price. Ability to understand and create the product for next billion coupled with strong tech led operations has set Rapido apart in this market,” Jeffrey Yam, one of Rapido's investor said.