Rapido raises $180 mn in latest round from Swiggy, TVS Motor

Bengaluru-based bike taxi start-up Rapido on Friday announced that it has raised $180 million in its latest Series D round led by food delivery giant new investor Swiggy. The round also saw investment from TVS Motor Company, along with existing investors, Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures, partaking in the fundraise, the company said in a statement.

"The funds would be leveraged to bolster Rapido’s technology, amplify and strengthen its teams across diverse sets of capabilities, increase overall supply to create an enhanced consumer experience across a larger audience base in metros, tier 1, 2, and 3 cities, and ensure a seamless last-mile connectivity," the start-up further stated.

The firm also stated that it will be investing these funds in all its three categories, viz. bike-taxi, auto and delivery, "to enhance its captain earnings and improve customer experience in 100+ cities the company operates in."

On the investment from Swiggy, Rapido said that the food delivery giant's participation will provide additional earnings for both Swiggy’s delivery executives and Rapido’s captains.

The fresh funding round comes about eight months later when Rapido had raised $52 million in its Series C round of funding from Shell Ventures, Yamaha, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Spotify India CEO Amarjit Singh Batra and Positive Moves Consulting.

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Announcing the fund-raising, Aravind Sanka, co-founder, Rapido, said, “We, at Rapido, are grateful to our existing and new investors for giving impetus to our vision. We look forward to learning from Swiggy’s experience to scale up throughout the country and enhance our captains’/customers’ experience, who are the backbone of our business. Besides, TVS Motor, who are very passionate about EVs and the future of mobility, will help us in further expansion. We hope to accelerate our pace of becoming a household name as we increase our geographies and services, on the backbone of our robust, global-standard technology.”

“We hold a lot of respect for the resilience Rapido has displayed in transforming the mobility and logistics space in India,” said Sriharsha Majety, Co-founder and CEO of Swiggy. “ Swiggy and Rapido share a vision to build a logistics platform that empowers riders through more opportunities and higher earnings...,” he added.

The start-up, in its statement, also claimed that it has been constantly recording accumulative growth and has raised $130 million in the past from various investors due to its efficient service delivery.

Rapido is currently present in around 100 cities across the country with over 25 million customers and over 1.5 million Captains (driver-partners). At present, the company has grown more than 2.5x to pre-pandemic levels by maintaining market leadership in its core category, it added.