Rapido raises $180 million in Series D round led by Swiggy

Bike taxi startup Rapido has raised $180 million in a Series D round led by food tech major Swiggy and joined by TVS Motor Company and existing investors Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures.

The company’s financing values at $830 million, Moneycontrol has learned from sources. To date, Rapido has raised a total of over $310 million.

This round comes when Swiggy’s rival Zomato has announced a 10-minute food delivery.

Commenting on the funding, Rapido said: “Swiggy’s participation in this round will build on the synergies between the two companies. With a common mission to deliver superior customer experience through higher fleet availability, Swiggy’s delivery executives and Rapido’s captains.”

Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and CEO of Swiggy, said: “Swiggy and Rapido share a vision to build a logistics platform that empowers riders through more opportunities and higher earnings. While we’ve already been working together, this investment facilitates closer alignment to leverage the synergies between the platforms and improve the value we provide to consumers and delivery executives/captains across the country.”

Rapido plans to enhance its technology with the funds, amplify and strengthen its teams across diverse sets of capabilities, and increase overall supply in metros and Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities.

Further, the startup will be investing in all its three categories, bike-taxi, auto, and delivery, to enhance its captain earnings and improve customer experience in 100 plus cities the company operates.

Rapido was founded in 2015 by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and Rishikesh SR. Rapido Rental is a first-of-its-kind multi-stop bike rental to cater to people who have to complete multiple tasks at different locations and want to avoid the hassle of numerous bookings and waiting for the ride to arrive.