Indian bike taxi service Rapido raises $52 million – TechCrunch
Rapido, a motorbike taxi aggregator in India, mentioned on Monday it has raised $52 million in a brand new financing spherical because the six-year-old startup appears to search out area in a class dominated by Ola and Uber within the South Asian market.
The six-year-old startup’s new funding — Collection C — was financed by Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah of CRED, Amarjit Singh Batra of Spotify India, and Optimistic Strikes Consulting. Current buyers Pawan Munjal of Hero Group, Westbridge, Nexus Enterprise Companions and Everblue Administration additionally participated within the spherical, which brings its to-date increase to over $130 million.
Rapido gives its two-wheeler service in about 100 Indian cities. The startup says it has amassed over 15 million prospects and 1.5 million driver-partners who it calls captains. Lately, the startup has additionally expanded in three-wheeler area, which it says recorded a development of 4X since final yr in 26 cities the place it’s operational, and hyperlocal supply.
In an announcement, the startup mentioned its platform, which was hit by the coronavirus pandemic that prompted India to implement lockdown in a number of states, has already seen an 85{69439eabc38bbe67fb47fc503d1b0f790fcef507f9cafca8a4ef4fbfe163a7c5} restoration. The startup attributed development partially to the rising e-commerce and hyperlocal supply alternatives in India.
“Regardless that our product and enterprise mannequin are profitable and have the potential to churn out an distinctive income, this fundraising signifies extra of the buyers’ confidence in us than the necessity for capital,” mentioned Aravind Sanka, co-founder of Rapido, in an announcement.
He mentioned the startup hopes to broaden to serve 50 million prospects within the subsequent 18 months. The startup plans to additionally deploy capital to broaden its know-how stack — it’s trying to make strategic investments — and rent extra individuals
The expansion of Rapido follows a shift in India’s mobility market, the place Uber and Ola flooded greater than one million cabs up to now decade. In city cities, two-wheelers and three-wheelers have confirmed more practical as a result of they will zip by way of a lot sooner in visitors and are extra inexpensive.
Each Ola and Uber have additionally expanded to two-wheeler and three-wheeler classes in recent times, inking partnerships with corporations comparable to Vogo and Yulu. Ola has moreover expanded into manufacturing of electrical automobiles. On Sunday, it launched its first electrical scooter, referred to as Ola S1, that’s priced at 99,999 Indian rupees, or $1,350. The electrical scooter gives a variety of 121 kilometers (75 miles) on a whole cost.
