Coronavirus: Rapido ties up with Bigbasket, Big Bazaar, and Spencer’s Retail to deliver essentials

Rapido, the online bike taxi aggregator, has joined hands with Bigbasket, Big Bazaar and Spencer’s Retail. The Bengaluru-based startup will be helping these brands in delivering essentials during lockdown imposed by the government to control the spread of COVID-19.

The startup had earlier confirmed that it had temporarily suspended its operations when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a pan-India 21-day lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, Rapido said, “We are committed to accelerate our existing Rapido-Delivery services to provide for essential supplies during the ongoing lockdown due to COVID-19. We are happy to join hands with Bigbasket, Big Bazaar and Spencer’s Retail to aid the last-mile deliveries of orders to customers across more than 90 cities in the country."

It also confirmed that 70 percent of Rapido’s rider partners are on-ground in order to facilitate supplies. The startup has already taken measures and precautions to ensure the safety of its rider partners from the coronavirus. Besides, it is offering a group insurance cover worth Rs 10 lakh for its riders to shield them from financial burden in case of hospitalisation due to COVID-19.

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Rapido added, “In addition to this, we are currently in talks with multiple players such as Grofers, Dunzo, FreshtoHome, and others on extending our support to help them deliver essential orders.”

The startup also confirmed that it will not be charging any commissions from its rider partners for the trips made for delivering essential items.

Rapido started its operations in 2015, and claims to have around 15 lakh rider partners and has over one crore downloads on the Google Play Store. At present, it is operational across 100 cities in India. The startup has received funding from the likes of Westbridge AIF and Nexus Ventures, among others.

As per documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Rapido registered a 13X increase in revenue to Rs 10.64 crore in FY19, against a revenue of Rs 79.90 lakh posted for the previous financial year.

(Edited by Suman Singh)