Bike taxi platform Rapido has raised a $52 million funding round from Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah CRED Founder, Amarjit Singh Batra CEO Spotify India, and Positive Moves Consulting. The round also witnessed continued support from existing investors including Pawan Munjal of Hero Group, Westbridge, Nexus Ventures, and Everblue Management.

With its latest round of funding, Rapido will be making strategic investments in innovations, technology, people, and supply to expand its growth in India.

The rapid scaling of quick commerce and hyperlocal delivery has further driven Rapido’s expansion into on-demand logistics with Rapido Local and Rapido Store. The company’s auto service, launched in 26 cities, has also recorded a growth of 4X and overall, Rapido has witnessed a recovery of 85% as compared to pre-Covid. The company previously raised a total funding of $80M from various investors including Westbridge AIF, Nexus Ventures, Sabre Investment, Skycatcher LLC, Bace Fund, and Integrated Growth Capital, among others.

Commenting on the funding, Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder, Rapido, said, “We are committed to providing the country with an affordable, accessible and safe everyday commuting option. Today, Rapido is operating in around 100 Indian cities. Even though our product and business model are lucrative and have the potential to churn out an exceptional revenue, this fundraising indicates more of the investors’ confidence in us than the need for capital. From 15 million users in the last two years, we now plan to increase that number to 50 million in the next 18 months and continue providing affordable transportation for the masses.”

Rapido is currently present in around 100 cities across the country with over 15 million customers and over 1.5 million captains (driver-partners). The company has grown 10X in FY 2020, which has resulted in investor confidence in the growth of the company and the bike taxi industry in the country. It is the only mobility player in the country that is confident of growth, despite the tremors of the ongoing pandemic.

The company announced several initiatives in 2020 towards maintaining safety and following guidelines to protect the customer and the captain, including the innovative safety back shields for bike taxi rides. The captains are expected to sanitise and clean the vehicle and all customer accessible areas, post every ride, along with mandatory usage of masks during the entire ride by the captains and the passengers. The company also introduced new policy support, where it provides free cancellation if captains or customers are without a mask.

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