WestBridge Capital May Lead $50 Mn Round In Bengaluru’s Rapido Bikes

Bengaluru-based bike taxi services provider Rapido Bikes is reportedly in final stages to raise a $50 Mn funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The media reports suggest that WestBridge is inclined to put in $30 Mn with its existing cohort investors also participating.

The round if goes through could value the company at $150 Mn-$200 Mn, according to media reports.

In December last year, WestBridge Capital had also invested INR 200 Cr in online interior design platform DesignCafe.

An email sent to Rapido Bikes did not elicit any responses at the time of publication.

The development has come at a point when Rapido and the other bike taxi providers in Karnataka are fighting their survival war with the government. Earlier this year, the Karnataka transport department wrote to Ola and Rapido to stop its bike taxi services immediately.

As of April 9, 2019, the decision was pending in the High Court. The court was hearing the petition filed by the Bengaluru-based cab aggregator Ola against the Karnakata transport department for not providing the company with a licence to operate bike taxis in the state.

This year in January, Rapido raised $10 Mn (INR 71.08 Cr) in a round of funding led by Hong Kong’s multi-strategy private investment office, Integrated Capital. Existing investors Skycatchr, AdvantEdge and Astrac Ventures also participated in this round of funding. At the time, Rapido does 2.5 Mn orders a month and plans to grow to 20 Mn orders by the end of this year.

Founded by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli and Aravind Sanka in October 2015, Rapido currently has 10,000 active drivers or “captains”, including women. Anyone with a two-wheeler license, a bike, a vehicle registration certificate, and bike insurance can register themselves as a Rapido Captain. Available on Android and iOS, the app can be accessed in multiple languages like Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English.

The research firm Statista suggests that around 20 Mn two-wheelers were sold to domestic customers in 2017-18. This indicates a healthy opportunity for bike taxi services in the Indian market.

Other players in this segment are  UberMOTO by Uber India, and Ola is also investing in scooter rental service provider Vogo. Plus GoJek also revealed its plans earlier to enter into the Indian market.

[The development was reported by ETTech]