Rapido raises $120M from WestBridge Capital, turns unicorn
The Hyderabad-based ride-hailing startup raised around Rs 1,000 crore in a Series E funding round, becoming the third unicorn startup in India this year.
Rapido has raised $120 million (approximately Rs 1,000 crore) in a Series E funding round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital at a valuation of $1 billion, a filing with the Registrar of Companies showed.
The ride-hailing platform that operates bike taxis is the third company to enter the unicorn club this year after fintech Perfios and Bhavish Agarwal’s AI startup Krutrim.
Rapido’s Board passed a special resolution to allot 10 equity shares, 95,479 Series E and 95,489 Series E1 compulsory convertible preferred shares at an issue price of Rs 52,467 per share for a total consideration of about Rs 1,002 crore, citing a regulatory filing.
The startup raised $180 million in 2022 in a Series D funding round, which saw participation from companies like
and institutional investors like WestBridge Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, among others. According to data website , it was last valued at $825 million.Economic Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the company will likely raise another $20 million from global investors.
Rapido reported a rise in revenue to Rs 497.5 crore in FY 2022-23 compared with Rs 157.9 crore earned in FY 2021-22. Its net loss for the period widened to Rs 674.6 crore, compared with Rs 439 crore in FY 2021-22.
According to internal documents reviewed by Entrackr, the company, which competes with other ride-hailing companies in India like
and , surpassed the latter in March 2024 with 16.5 lakh rides a day compared to Ola’s 13 lakh rides.The startup earlier this year introduced a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for auto driver partners, or Auto Captains, transitioning from an aggregator commission-driven model to a lifetime zero commission model.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan