[Funding alert] Rapido raises $180M from Swiggy, TVS Motor, Westbridge, and others

Leading bike taxi platform Rapido Bike Taxi has raised $180 million in its Series D funding round led by new investor and foodtech unicorn Swiggy. The round also saw participation from TVS Motor Company, Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures at a reported valuation of $800 million.

Rapido had raised $52 million in its last funding round in August 2021.

According to Rapido, it will use this latest fund-raise to bolster its technology, strengthen its team, and increase the supply. It plans to invest in all three categories, bike taxi, auto and delivery, to enhance earnings of riders and improve customer experience in the 100+ cities it operates in.

Rapido noted that the participation of Swiggy in this funding round will build upon the synergies between the two companies and provide additional earnings for delivery personnel of the foodtech unicorn and its own riders.

Rapido Co-founder Aravind Sanka said, “We look forward to learning from Swiggy’s experience to scale up throughout the country and enhance our captains’/customers’ experience. TVS Motor, which are very passionate about EVs and the future of mobility, will help us in further expansion.”

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Empowering riders

Rapido is currently present in around 100 cities across India, with over 25 million customers and over 1.5 million captains (driver-partners).

Swiggy Co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety said, “Swiggy and Rapido share a vision to build a logistics platform that empowers riders through more opportunities and higher earnings. While we’ve already been working together, this investment facilitates closer alignment to leverage the synergies between the platforms and improve the value we provide to both consumers and delivery executives/captains across the country.”

Rapido said it has now grown 2.5x to pre-pandemic levels.

On the investment into Rapido, TVS Motor Joint Managing Director Sudarshan Venu said, “By partnering with like-minded companies we believe there is an opportunity to play a greater role in this. TVS Motor has always been at the forefront of driving the mobility transformation and today, we are glad to partner with Rapido.”