Rapido raises $200 million in funding led by WestBridge; valuation hits $1.1 billion
Summary
Mobility startup Rapido has secured $200 million in a financing round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital , vaulting into the unicorn club of privately-held companies with a $1.1 billion valuation. Aravind Sanka , the companys CEO, told ET that the funds will be used to expand Rapidos newly launched four-wheeler taxi service , which competes with Ola and Uber. In some cities, were already larger than one of the incumbents in four-wheelers, and now we want to make that journey and become a significant No.2 player.On August 9, ET had reported exclusively that Rapido had crossed the $1 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) mark , primarily driven by its expansion into new segments such as four-wheeler cabs and auto-rickshaws, in addition to an aggressive expansion into more than 100 cities.Sanka said three-wheeler auto-rickshaw bookings is the single biggest contributor to its GMV with a 40% share, with bike-taxis and cabs evenly split with 30% each. However, in terms of number of rides, more than 50% still comes from two-wheeler vehicles, he said.In addition to the older companies such as Uber and Ola, Rapido also faces competition from Google-backed Namma Yatri, a newer player which operates on the ONDC protocol.Like ONDC, Rapido, too, operates in auto-rickshaw and four-wheeler cab services on the subscription model, wherein driver partners are charged a flat per day or per week fee instead of commission on every ride.Sanka said Rapido will expand its four-wheeler cab service purely on the subscription model and not levy commissions on its driver partners.From dominating bike taxis to making significant strides into 3W autos and cabs, their growth is a testament to their operational rigour and relentless focus on customer and captain satisfaction, said Sumir Chadha, cofounder and managing partner at WestBridge. Were in talks for such integrationsand are maybe a few months away from (launching the service).While much of the quick commerce supply chain has been maintained in-house by platforms such as Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Nexus Venture Partners-backed Zepto, several third-party logistics players are throwing their hats into the ring.These include Warburg Pincus-backed Ecom Express, Flipkart-backed Shadowfax and Tiger Global-backed Loadshare.