Rapido, India’s most popular bike-hailing app, has recently completed a funding round that values the company at more than $800 million. This new investment is a major milestone for the company, rapidly expanding its user base and growing its presence in India’s rapidly developing bike-hailing space.
This article will explore the new investment and its implications for Rapido.
Overview of Rapido
Rapido is an Indian bike-taxi and delivery startup that has recently closed a new funding round, resulting in a new valuation of more than $800 million. Founded in 2015, Rapido is a transportation app that enables users to book motorcycle taxis and make deliveries. The platform is available in 10 cities across India and around 100 towns within those cities.
Rapido has raised capital from marquee investors since its founding, including Naver Corporation, Shunwei Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Meituan Dianping and India Quotient. Previous investments have helped the company build its presence from 125 cities at the end of 2018 to more than 350 cities today. As part of the recent funding round, some existing investors have re-invested, and one new investor has also come on board.
The latest investment values Rapido at more than $800M and boosts the company’s total equity capital raised to date to nearly $167m. This latest funding round celebrates a major milestone for Rapido as it gears up to cement its position as one of India’s leading transportation networks.
Summary of recent funding round
Rapido, India’s leading bike sharing platform, recently closed a new funding round with a valuation of over $800 million. The investment was led by Hong Kong-based ManoCap and included participation from existing investors Lightstone Ventures, Matrix Partners, and Hillhouse Capital.
This new funding round brings Rapido’s total funding to date to $105 million and pushes the company’s valuation to more than $800 million. This demonstrates market confidence in Rapido’s growth strategy and its potential for capturing a larger share of the Indian transport market.
The funds raised will be used for aggressive expansion in Indian cities, product innovation, and technology enhancements. Rapido currently operates in 11 cities and their services are available across more than 35,000 locations. The company plans to use the latest investment to expand its network coverage within India, leveraging its newly acquired funds towards research & development, resulting in better customer experience through continuous product enhancements across their platform.
New Investment Values India’s Rapido at More Than $800M
Rapid’s recent funding round valued the Indian two-wheeler ride-hailing startup at more than $800 million, making it one of the most valuable startups from India.
Rapido raised $110 million in a new financing round led by a consortium of investors including Coatue Management, B Capital, Falcon Edge and others.
The details of this funding round will be discussed in this article.
Amount raised
On June 3, 2021, Indian startup Rapido announced it had closed its Series D round of funding, raising $105 million in new investments and bringing the company’s post-money valuation to a reported figure of more than $800 million. This valuation makes Rapido one of India’s most valuable urban mobility companies.
The funding round was led by two existing investors—BAC and Transversal Capital Partners—with participation from new investor Zoo Capital, InnoVen Capital, Naspers Ventures and Steadview Capital. Rapido plans to use the funds for product innovation, geographic expansion and development of adjacent products such as courier services.
This latest investment puts Rapido on track to become an even stronger player in India’s urban mobility space. In addition to serving more than 5 million customers monthly across several Indian cities, the company is looking forward to introducing new tools to “serve customers in more meaningful ways.”
Valuation
Rapido, India’s two-wheeler ride-hailing provider, has secured a new funding round at the end of March 2021 with reported new investments from existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners along with new investor Prosus Ventures. This investment values the four-year-old startup at more than $800 million.
The fresh funds are part of Rapido’s previously announced $100 million fundraise in 2020 which was stalled due to the Financial Year 2022 Uncertainty in India. Rapido has raised over $175 million with this round since it first started funding in 2015. This makes it one of the most highly valued startups within a niche ride-hailing segment in India, alongside Ola Bikes which recently received investments from Tiger Global and Matrix Partners valuing the company at over $400 million at its last fundraising round.
This recent funding round strengthens Rapido’s market position and helps drive its expansion plans as part of its continued growth strategy. With such investment valuation, Rapido can gain a greater market share by leveraging this pool of funds to further expand geographically into additional metropolises and tier-II cities while strengthening its presence within markets such as Bangalore and Chennai.
Investors
Rapido recently raised an impressive $110 million in its series C funding round. This move has seen the company’s valuation surging to more than $800 million, making it one of the most valuable companies in India’s quickly expanding on-demand mobility space.
The money was raised from investors including Alkeon Capital, Steadview Capital, GGV Capital, Ankur Capital, and Rebright Partners. In addition, some of Rapido’s existing investors Amansa Capital, Shunwei, Strive and WestBridge (now Sequoia) also participated in the funding round. All of these have benefited from investing in such a reliable startup that follows bike-taxi service safety norms.
This should open an inexhaustible market for more investments from venture capitalists willing to capitalize on similar ideas within the on-demand mobility space – some other prominent ones being OlaBike and Bounce!
Impact on Rapido
Rapido recently smashed their previous funding record and was valued at over 800 million dollars. This new investment marks a major milestone for Rapido and will have lasting implications for the company.
Let’s take a closer look at the impact of this new investment and how it will affect Rapido in the future.
Expansion plans
Rapido’s latest funding round and valuation shows the startup’s stellar growth and scalability since the start of 2020. The new investment, led by Falcon Edge Capital, values Rapido at over $800 million.
The company plans to utilize the new capital from investors to expand their presence in India to 100 cities and towns. Rapido is now present in 40 cities across India and aims to deepen their presence in these core cities with increased focus on digital capabilities. In addition, they plan on further developing their products, such as En-route Live Tracking for riders, rider verification process for cars and bikes, and expanding into micro-mobility solutions such as e-bikes and e-scooters.
Additionally, they plan to use this fresh capital to develop technology infrastructure by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities such as natural language processing (NLP) models, increase customer trust through enhanced service quality maintenance & project management systems but also invest more heavily on research & development initiatives while exploring new transport solutions at a larger scale.
Potential acquisition targets
Rapido’s recent investment round has resulted in a $800M+ valuation, making it one of India’s most valuable mobility companies. This latest influx of capital into Rapido has reaffirmed its position as a major player in India’s on-demand transportation market.
Given Rapido’s new valuation, the company is now well-positioned to potentially acquire or invest in smaller startups operating in related sectors such as e-scooter rental services, on-demand parking and carpooling services. Furthermore, Rapido can use this valuation increase to attract potential acquirers looking to form strategic partnerships or acquire the company outright.
Given that markets such as ride-hailing are still relatively untapped in India, and represent vast growth opportunities, any acquisitions are even more attractive from an investor perspective. Therefore, companies with similar business models to Rapido could act as potential acquisition targets for the company looking for additional revenue sources or synergistic services to help them stay ahead of their competition.
Industry Analysis
Rapido recently closed a funding round at a more than $800 million valuation. This new investment values the India-based two-wheeler ride-hailing platform at a significant increase from its previous valuation of $200 million.
This funding round has gained the attention of the venture capital world and has many people wondering about the implications of this new investment.
Look closely at industry analysis and what this new investment could mean for the two-wheeler ride-hailing sector.
Overview of the Indian ride-hailing market
India is one of the world’s major centers for ride-hailing and public transportation, and has seen exponential growth in the past few years as smartphone adoption has exploded in the country.
As a result, India’s ride-hailing market is projected to be worth an estimated $8 billion by 2023, with over six million active riders on any given day.
This growth is being led by established players such as Ola and Uber, but also from newer entrants such as Rapido, Yulu, and Bounce that are challenging the status quo. These companies offer services including motorbike taxis, auto-rickshaw sharing and bike rentals. They also provide features such as ride-scheduling and real-time tracking to make travel more secure and convenient for riders.
Rapido recently closed a series C funding round valued at more than $800 million; this news underlines Rapido’s current dominance in the Indian ride-hailing market. In addition, the company plans to use this capital to bolster its presence across India by expanding into additional cities and towns to capture market share. This new investment values India’s Rapido at over $800 million, making it one of the most valuable startups in the country’s burgeoning tech industry.
Rapido’s position in the market
Rapido is one of India’s leading and most successful bike-taxi startups. Founded in 2015, Rapido has captured a significant share of India’s bike-taxi market thanks to its strong financial performance, effective customer acquisition strategies and high quality customer service. In addition, the company recently raised over $320 million in series E funding at a post-money valuation of $833 million, making it one of the most valuable businesses in its sector.
Rapido operates mainly in India’s tier-1 cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad but also has presence in the tier-2 cities like Coimbatore, Chennai and Kochi. This wide geographic presence, combined with major investments from venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital India, Geek Prime and Vertex Ventures, has enabled Rapido to become a leader in bike-taxi services within India. In addition to having strategic partnerships with leading names like Ola, Amazon Pay and Google Pay, Rapido is also looking forward to expanding its offering beyond bike taxi services by introducing rental bikes and premium cars shortly.
Rapido currently faces significant competition from players such as Bounce who also have similar business models that rely heavily on tech capabilities for operational efficiency; however due to Rapido’s first mover advantage it is expected that the company will remain ahead of the competition despite this increased competition. In addition, due to recent efforts by the government towards electrification of vehicles, Rapido is expected to benefit significantly due rapid adoption of electric vehicles across India. Furthermore, with new investments more people are expected to adopt bike taxis as their preferred mode of transportation which could drive further growth for companies like Rapido going forward.
Conclusion
Rapido, India’s largest bike-taxi service, has recently completed its recent funding round, with a valuation of over $800M. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, an investment firm that purchased 19% of the company’s stake. Other investors include Naspers Ventures and existing investors – Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners India and Shunwei Capital, who now collectively own 80% stake in Rapido.
The new funding will meet continuing growth targets and further develop Rapido’s services in driver acquisition and retention, product development, user onboarding and safety initiatives. In addition to financial investments from previous rounds, the company has also received a vote of confidence from each investor regarding brand building and improving customer interface and product design.
Since its launch in 2015, Rapido’s rapid growth rate has catapulted it to become the largest bike-taxi operator in India. Currently operating across 20 cities with over 3 million users, Rapido plans to expand its presence across tier 1 & 2 cities in India by 2021. With further investments from industry experts backed by financial advancements from their recent fundraising round – the future looks promising for Rapido’s domination within the two-wheeler space across India.
tags = India’s Rapido, $800M, bicycle taxi platform, Swiggy, TVS Motor Company, rival is India’s Zomato, Sriharsha Majety, rapido indian 180m 800msinghtechcrunch, Aravind Sanka
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