Rapido To Launch Women-Only Bike Taxi Service In Karnataka: Report

Ride hailing unicorn Rapido is reportedly planning to launch an all-women “Pink” bike service in Karnataka by the end of 2025. 

As per Economic Times, Rapido cofounder Pavan Guntupalli, while speaking at an event in Bengaluru, said that the offering will cater exclusively to women customers, adding that the bikes will also be driven by women.

With this, the mobility unicorn reportedly claims to have set its eyes on generating 25,000 jobs in the city for its women “captains”.

“Our goal is to provide 25,000 job opportunities for women by introducing women captains on Rapido bikes. If a woman can safely travel with an unknown driver, reaching her destination with ease, it can be considered our success,” Guntupalli reportedly said. 

Guntupalli also claimed that 35% of the company’s workforce came from “smaller cities and towns”.

If the plan materialises, Rapido will become the second major ride-hailing platform in the country to offer such a service. In December 2024, Uber also rolled out a women-only bike ride offerings in Bengaluru. At the time, the US-based company said that it would expand the service to other major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad in the near future. 

Besides, there are also players like Sakha Cabs, Taxshe, bike taxi operator Dovely, among others that operate in the larger women-only ride aggregation space. With this, mobility players are looking to race ahead to capture the growing demand for women-friendly two-wheeler ride service. 

The latest offering from Rapido’s stable comes at a time when the company has been on an expansion spree. Last month, the Bengaluru-based mobility giant announced plans to expand its footprint to 500 cities across the country from 120 currently. 

In September 2024, Rapido was also reportedly looking to make its foray into the quick commerce space. 

This follows Inc42 reporting, earlier this month, that Rapido is raising INR 250 Cr from Dutch investors Prosus as part of its likely ongoing Series E round.

Founded in 2015 by Guntupalli, Rishikesh SR and Aravind Sanka, Rapido allows users to book bike taxis and autos. It also forayed into the can segment in December 2023. Besides, it also offers peer-to-peer delivery services via Rapido Local. 

On the financial front, the unicorn managed to trim its loss by over 45% to INR 370 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 675 Cr in the year ago period. Meanwhile, operating revenue jumped 1.5X year-on-year (YoY to INR 648.1 Cr in FY24.

At the heart of all this is India’s growing ride mobility market, which continues to grow on the back of convenience, rapid urbanisation and evolving lifestyles. The overall Indian ride-hailing market is projected to become a $11.64 Bn opportunity by 2029.