Rapido Valuation Reaches $1.1 Bn After $200 Mn Series E Round

Neha KamathSeptember 5, 2024

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Three points you will get to know in this article:

WestBridge Capital, an existing investor, led the round. Nexus Venture Partners also participated.
Funds will be used to establish four-wheeler taxi service, which wants to compete with Ola and Uber.
According to the cofounder, the startup’s revenue has increased by more than 12 times.

New Indian Unicorn Rapido Gets $200 Mn (Around 1660 Cr) In Series E Funding Round from WestBridge, Valuation Reaches $1.1 Bn

Founded in 2015 by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli, and Aravind Sanka, the firm specializes in bike taxi and auto transportation. In December of last year, it also began offering cab services in several locations. In addition, it provides peer-to-peer delivery through Rapido Local.

Rapido raised $200 million (INR 1,660 crore) in a Series E investment round headed by current investor WestBridge Capital, propelling the ride-hailing service into the unicorn club at a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Nexus Venture Partners, an existing backer, participated in the round, as did new investors Think Investments and New York-based Invus Opportunities.

Where Will New Funding Be Used by Rapido?

Aravind Sanka, Rapido’s cofounder, said in a statement that the money would be used to grow the company’s recently introduced four-wheel taxi service.

Additionally, the funding would help Rapido expand its operations throughout India and scale its technological platform to improve customer delivery.

According to the article, the corporation intends to expand its product categories. “The four-wheeler category is new to us, so we’ll be aggressive there. In some cities, we’re already larger than one of the incumbents in four-wheelers, and we want to continue that journey to become a significant number two player.”

Rapido is also expanding into the fast-growing rapid commerce sector, using its two-wheeler fleet for hyperlocal deliveries.

Latest Growth Numbers Registered by Rapido

“The latest fundraise comes on the back of strong growth we have clocked over the last two years,” said the CEO.

In July, the media claimed that Rapido had raised $120 million (about INR 1,000 crore) from existing backer WestBridge Capital.

Rapido presently receives 2.3-2.5 million orders every day across multiple form factors, with 7% originating from business-to-business (B2B) operations. According to the cofounder, the company fulfills food-delivery orders for Swiggy during off-peak hours for bike-taxi services and has also partnered with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) as a logistics supplier.

On the financial front, Rapido’s net loss increased by more than 50% to INR 674.5 crore in fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 439 crore the previous year. Operating revenue increased to INR 443 crore from INR 144.8 crore in FY22.