Leading Bike Taxi Platform, Rapido, seeks pre-series A funding from Hero MotoCorp and AdvantEdge
Bike taxi operator Rapido has raised pre-series A round of funding led by Mr. Pawan Munjal, Chairman, MD & CEO of Hero MotoCorp Ltd; AdvantEdge Partners; Astarc Ventures; Tesellate Ventures; Anupam Mittal, Founder & CEO of People group; Harish Bahl, Founder of Smile Group; Ankit Nagori, Ex CBO, Flipkart; Rajan Anandan, MD Google India & South East Asia and Kunal Khattar, serial entrepreneur and Co-founder of Carnation Auto.
Rapido is a platform where one can book a bike ride through a mobile app for travelling solo. Started in November 2015, Rapido aims to disrupt the way people travel intracity. It is the brain child of young IITians looking to make life easier for daily commuters. Aravind Sanka, Pavan and Rishikesh are the three founders of Rapido. The Rapido team compromises of 20+ team members from top premium colleges including IITs & IIMs
Aravind Sanka, Co-founder Rapido said, “The funds will be deployed for Rapido’s expansion into other cities and building up the team. A majority of our customers use us as a daily commute option since we have built the product with deep understanding of their needs. At the moment, we have a fleet of over 400 bikes across Bangalore, Gurgaon and Delhi. The number is set to touch 1,000 over the next 2 months.”
With the steadily rising urban population and four-wheelers overcrowding roads, Rapido is attempting to reduce the carbon footprint at a massive scale. Within a short period of time, Rapido has over 50,000 app downloads and delivered more than 1, 25,000 rides. 85% of Rapido’s rides are from repeat customers and 10% of the customers are women. They recently launched a free Bike sharing platform during the second phase of odd-even in Delhi which has got a tremendous response from the citizens of Delhi.
Customers save 40% cost and 50% time compared to alternative options. Safety and customer satisfaction are Rapido’s top priority. Rapido has stringent checks and strict penalties to ensure best in class safety standards. A rider has to complete a comprehensive test ride process, get the vehicle inspected, get all the requisite documents verified and accomplish mandatory training & certification before coming onboard. Rapido also monitors speed for each ride and sends prompts to the rider in case of over speeding. Furthermore, Rapido is the only bike taxi service in India that has an emergency SOS button installed within the app which allows Rapido’s safety measures team to monitor every ride taken on the network. The company has also partnered locally with leading ambulance services to help reach hospitals in case the need arises.
Mr. Pawan Munjal, Chairman, MD & CEO, Hero MotoCorp, who has invested in the venture in his personal capacity, said, “Rapido is a commendable initiative and has the potential to generate significant employment besides making convenient motorized transport accessible to the masses. With their strong background and passion, I believe the founders of Rapido are well positioned to deliver on their promise. I wish them all the best.”
Rapido’s vision sets them apart from other bike taxis in India. Their vision is to build a community where a rider with a spare seat on his two-wheeler gets to meet other riders who are open to the idea of sharing a bike ride. So, while the customer saves time and money, the biker on the Rapido platform gets an opportunity to earn some extra money. An easy user interface lets the customer identify the nearest rider and request a booking within seconds.
Akash Boaz
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