Rapido To Raise INR 125 Cr From Nexus

Tracking Rapido’s 10-Year Ride — From INR 6 Lakh In FY16 To INR 1K Cr In FY25

SUMMARY

Rapido is raising INR 125 Cr (around $15 Mn) from Nexus Venture Partners, as the former gears up for the launch of its food delivery service ‘Ownly'

This comes months after Inc42 reported that Rapido was raising INR 250 Cr (about $28.9 Mn) from Prosus

Rapido raised $200 Mn (INR 1,660 Cr) in its Series E funding round led by WestBridge Capital

Ride-hailing major Rapido is raising INR 125 Cr (around $15 Mn) from Nexus Venture Partners, as the former gears up for the launch of its food delivery service ‘Ownly’.

The board of Rapido on May 18 approved a proposal to issue 23,872 Series E CCPS at INR 52,467 apiece to Nexus, as per the unicorn’s RoC filing. The total amount to be raised from this share issue will not exceed INR 125.25 Cr.

The development was first reported by Moneycontrol.

This comes months after Inc42 reported that Rapido was raising INR 250 Cr (about $28.9 Mn) from Prosus. Both the funding seem to be part of the startup’s ongoing Series E round.

In September last year, Rapido raised $200 Mn (INR 1,660 Cr) in its Series E funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The round catapulted the startup into the unicorn club with a valuation of $1.1 Bn.

Founded in 2015 by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and Rishikesh SR, Rapido initially provided bike-taxi services, offering a convenient and affordable alternative to other transportation options.

Later, it forayed into auto-rickshaw services, building one of the largest networks of auto-rickshaw drivers in India and taking on the likes of Ola and Uber.

Notably, Rapido was the first to charge zero commission fee to auto-rickshaw drivers after Bengaluru-based startup Namma Yatri.

In 2023, Rapido also started offering cab services on its platform.

Rapido To Disrupt Food Delivery Services

After taking on giants like Uber and Ola, Rapido is now preparing to disrupt the Zomato-Swiggy duopoly in the food delivery sector.

Earlier today, Inc42 reported that Rapido’s food delivery pilot “Ownly” is set to launch this month. Rapido plans to charge zero commissions from restaurants as against Zomato and Swiggy, which typically charge between 16% to 30%.

Restaurants working with Ownly will only have to pay a fixed delivery fee per order, ranging between INR 10 and INR 25, depending on the order value. Customers, on the other hand, will see transparent pricing, where the price of the dish will be exactly what they pay.

Notably, Zomato and Swiggy charge platform fees and packaging costs from customers. Following the news of Rapido’s food delivery foray, the shares of the two foodtech giants took a hit. While Zomato fell 1.95% to end at INR 256.85 on the BSE today, shares of Swiggy declined 2.74% to INR 364.5.

Meanwhile, on the financial front, Rapido managed to trim its loss by over 45% to INR 370 Cr in FY24 from INR 675 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue jumped 1.5X to INR 648.1 Cr in FY24 from INR 443 Cr in the previous year.

Earlier this year, cofounder Sanka told Inc42 that the startup’s revenue nearly doubled in FY25. This would translate to a top line of over INR 1,000 Cr.