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Facing problems each day to reach office on time? Don't want to travel with the group, want to go alone to the destination? Driver's not at home and meeting your friends outside is too urgent? Neither mom nor dad is ready to take you to your tuitions at this point in time? Feeling bored alone and want to go outside?
Yes, now there is no need to worry anymore because Rapido has come to relieve all from their respective headaches. All you need to do now is to install the app and go anywhere in the city safely. Even during the night because everything can be tracked online. They are especially being funded by Westbridge Capital as the goal is to expand more.
Problems and facts are found everywhere!
Read the Rapido success story below and get to know more unknown facts.
Rapido - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Rapido |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Sector | Mobility Tech |
| Founders | Pavan Guntupalli, Rishikesh SR and Aravind Sanka |
| Founded | November 2015 |
| Revenue/Turnover | $11.51 mn (Rs 87.9 crore in FY21) |
| Profit/Loss | Loss of $21.79 mn (Rs 166.3 crore in FY21) |
| Total Funding | $309.8 million (April 2022) |
| Valuation | $800 mn (as of April 2022) |
| Parent Organization | Roppen Transportation Services |
| Website | rapido.bike.com |
Rapido - About
Rapido - Industry
Rapido - Founders And Team
Rapido - Startup Story
Rapido - Business Model
Rapido - Revenue Model
Rapido - Tagline, Slogan And Logo
Rapido - Funding And Investors
Rapido - Growth and Revenue
Rapido - Competitors
Rapido - Future Plans
Rapido - About
Rapido is a Bangalore-based Indian online bike taxi aggregator, which was founded in the year 2015. It operates in 100+ cities across the country and also travels to various places in and around them. It has got more than 15000 registered riders a day.
Rishabh Rathi
Rapido - Industry
The bike taxi market in India was last valued at $50.5 million in 2021. The same industry is expected to grow by a CAGR of 48.5% from 2022-2030 and is expected to reach $1478 mn by 2030, as declared b Allied Market Research. Ola in another report via its policy research arm, Ola Mobility Institute (OMI), announced that the revenue potential of bike taxis in India stands at $5 billion.
Rapido - Founders And Team
Pavan Guntupalli, Rishikesh SR and Aravind Sanka are the founders of Rapido.
Pavan Guntupalli
Pavan Guntupalli is one of the co-founders of Rapido after being a co-founder of Roppen Labs. He pursued his studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and obtained a Btech degree in Electronics and Electrical Communications. Guntupalli then completed two Summer Internships at Reliance Communications and Breakthrough Management Group. Along with native languages, he is also well-versed in Korean. Previously, he was a software developer in Samsung Research India.
Rishikesh SR
Rishikesh SR is also one of the co-founders of the company. He pursued his education at PES University from where he obtained a BE degree in Computer and Informational Sciences. He is the founder of IMPStant and theKarrier. He also achieved the 'best project of the year award'
Aravind Sanka
Aravind Sanka is the co-founder of both Rapido and theKarrier. He pursued his education at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, from where he received a Btech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Previously he was the Finance Business Partner on Flipkart.com after completing a Summer Internship at Tata Motors.
Rapido - Startup Story
The foundation of Rapido dates back to theKarrier days, which was modeled on a logistics and supply-chain driven model that enabled their clients to seamlessly transport their belongings. Things were not bad for the company but according to Aravind Sanka, one of the co-founders of Rapido, they "quickly realized that shifting gears from B2B to B2C has more room for growth."
B2C meant that the company can no longer deal with trucks but has to shift to bikes to ease the transportation requirements of the customers because going for cars would again mean an added financial burden for the company, tons of competitions, facing traffic, and delays. Therefore, with the simple idea to ease the journey of the customers, they started working initially with 15-20 people, who sowed the seeds for Rapido and made the success of the business possible with hard work, persistence, and dedication.
The basic idea of the three founders was to hire people especially those who owned two-wheelers. Along with that, the founders wanted to bring up something new, which was way different from Ola and Uber as they invested heavily in vehicles. They believed in making an app like the Rapido captain app, that will help the two-wheeler owners to register themselves and verify their details with the company.
They thought Ola and Uber can never be affordable to all on a daily basis and the traffic in big cities is increasing every day. So they thought to dodge some of the obvious problems and plan for successful motorbike rides.
Rishabh Rathi
Rapido - Business Model
The app allows its users to book a ride after which a rider, known as captain, would arrive at the user's location. The fare of each ride depends upon how many kilometers the user has to go. One's those who want to perform as captains, have to register themselves through the Rapido captain app and get validated by submitting the required documents as mentioned above. Captains can use anything like scooters or motorcycles. However, there is a condition, which is that the vehicles have to be two-wheelers and can't be much older than 2010.
Krishna kumar
Rapido - Revenue Model
The revenue model of Rapido has got two main aspects. It claimed that in the year 2019 the company had a 13X jump in its revenue.
- One is commission-based. The company makes wealth by performing as a bridge between the two - captains and the ride seekers. The company charges 20% of the total fare as it's commission.
- The other one is a B2C commission. The company earns here via B2C logistics especially by helping logistics companies in delivering their commodities.
Brand advertisement is a must in all cases. It's a vital thing that not only helps the brands magnify their reputation but it also helps them to grow.
Rapido - Tagline, Slogan And Logo
The tagline of the company is Ride Solo. Aravind Sanka says here that 60% of the working public changes three modes of the vehicle while commuting on a daily basis. The founders wanted something reliable, convenient, and affordable for the common people to travel short distances so they came out with the tagline written above.
The colours included in the logo are white, yellow, and black. It was designed by shoby cc on Dribbble.
Rapido - Funding And Investors
Rapido has raised $309.8 million in funding over 10 funding rounds as of April 15, 2022. In the last, Series D fundraising round that came in on April 15, 2022, the company raised $175 mn from a clutch of investors including Westbridge Capital, TVS Motors, Shell Ventures, Nexus Ventures, which was led by Swiggy. In the previous (Series C) round that Rapido witnessed on August 16, 2021, the company received funds worth $52 mn from Westbridge Capital, Nexus and Yamaha.
| Date | Amount | Series | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 15, 2022 | $175 million | Series D | Swiggy, Westbridge Capital, TVS Motors, Shell and more |
| August 16, 2021 | $52 million | Series C | Westbridge Capital, Nexus, Yamaha |
| August 18, 2019 | $55 million | Series B | Westbridge Capital |
| April 23, 2019 | $11.2 million | Series A | Nexus Venture Partners |
| January 24, 2019 | $7.09 million | Series A | Astarc Ventures, India Technology Fund, Integrated Capital, Ka Wing Kevin Kwong, Skycatcher |
| March 1, 2018 | $4 Million | Series A | Skycatcher |
| November 21, 2017 | $288.09K | Venture Round | Skycatcher, Thompson Taraz Managers |
| September 25, 2017 | $370.2K | Venture Round | - |
| October 19, 2016 | - | Seed Round | AdvantEdge Founders |
| May 1, 2015 | $22.2k | Seed Round | - |
Rishabh Rathi
Rapido - Growth and Revenue
The startup company is growing rapidly. The growth reflects in its financials. The Bengaluru-based company reported that a 12.5x jump in the revenue was seen in the previous year. The company earned interest income and capital gain on the sale of mutual funds. It aims to cross the million mark a day but already boasts of having 5,00,000 captains, who have served 10 million customers across 90 locations.
Looking at the revenues of Rapido, the mobility firm, increased its income by 54.4%, which jumped from INR 56.9 cr to INR 87.9 cr, during FY21. The revenue from operations of Rapido also jumped to become INR 75.6 cr. However, what's more important is that the company managed to reduce its expenses too, which became INR 254 crore from INR 301 crore. This is the reason why the losses of the company also shrank from INR 244 cr to INR 166.3 cr during the same fiscal.
Rapido is currently valued at around $800 mn, after it saw the recent fundraising round led by Swiggy, which infused $175 mn dated April 15th, 2022. This is quite an increase in the valuation of the company, which was previously valued at $235 mn during the past funding round. Some other prominent growth highlights of the brand are:
- Rapido is present currently in over 100 cities of India.
- The company boasts of having 15 million+ customers.
- It also has 1.5 million+ driver partners.
Rapido - Competitors
The competitors of Rapido are RideAmigos, GoKid, Vollo and GrabTaxi.
- RideAmigos specialises in transportation solutions, provide trip planners, trip-tracking and gamification. Transportation is their main priority
- GoKid's slogan is 'greener way to go'. It's the App for Kids CarPooling. It drastically reduces traffic and emissions to organise kid's carpools.
- Vollo is a startup company for bus searches, fast and easy travel and for booking. Especially it's a comparison tool for timetables and routes of various buses. Its mission is to serve the best to its users and make planning easier.
Rapido - Future Plans
The primary goal of the company is to keep its app updated along with adding newer and more interesting features that would make it more convenient for both the captains and the users. The founders are also thinking about reducing the rates. Moreover, they are looking to add fuel up their rides with something unique, which will allow the users to travel faster. Furthermore, they are also planning to include a subscription-based power pass for its regular customers. The intention is to make his/her rides more affordable.
FAQs
What is Rapido?
Rapido is a bike taxi aggregator online, which provides mobility solutions for its users. Founded in 2015, Rapido is headquartered in Bengaluru.
Who is the Co-founder of Rapido?
The Co-founders of Rapido are Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, Rishikesh SR.
Who are the Rapido competitors?
Rapido competitors are Ola, Uber, Bounce, Vogo, and more.
How to start Rapido business?
If you are looking to start Rapido business, then you must be looking to start with being a captain on Rapido's fleets. Here are some of the primary requisites for becoming a Rapido Captain:
- Android phone with at least a 3G mobile data connection
- A motorbike at least of 2009 or any newer model
- A valid driving license
- Registration certificate of the vehicle
- Valid bike insurance
- PAN card