Rapido (company)

Last updated

Rapido
Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited
FormerlytheKarrier
Type Private
Industry Transportation
Founded2015;8 years ago (2015)
FoundersAravind Sanka
Pavan Guntupalli
SR Rishikesh
Headquarters
Bangalore, Karnataka
,
India
Number of locations
100+ cities (2022)
Area served
India [1]
Services Bike taxi
Auto rickshaw
Taxicab
Third-party logistics
Website rapido.bike

Rapido is an Indian ride-hailing service, which primarily operates as a bike taxi aggregator. Its offerings also include auto rickshaw and taxicab hailing, parcel delivery, and third-party logistics services. [2] Founded in 2015, the company is based in Bangalore and operates in over 100 cities, but has run into legal troubles in several locations where bike taxis are not legal. [3]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 2015 as theKarrier [4] by two IIT alumni and a PESU alumni – Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and SR Rishikesh. [5] In September 2018, reports were that Rapido has over 15,000 registered riders, with average rides of 30,000 per day. [6] Subsequently, Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal and former Google India head Rajan Anandan picked up stakes in the company. [7]

In 2019, Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka claimed that the company has created more than 500,000 jobs in India. [8] In November 2019, the company claimed to have 1 crore registered users. [4]

After the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic, Rapido expanded its operations in logistics, providing last-mile delivery of goods for local businesses and e-commerce companies. [9] [10] In October 2020, Rapido launched on-demand auto rickshaw hailing services. [11]

In April 2022, the company received $180 million in a funding round led by Swiggy, raising the company's valuation to $830 million. The Series D round of funding also saw participation of TVS Motor Company, Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures. [12] [13]

In 2023, Rapido introduced taxicab hailing on its app. [14]

Business model

The Rapido app allows the user to book a ride, after which a rider (called "Captain") arrives at the location. The fare includes a base fare of ₹20 in addition to ₹3 for every kilometer of the ride. [15] [16] [17] The "Captains" need to register through the Rapido-Captain app and get validated by submitting the required documents. They can use motorcycles, scooters, or e-bikes, but the vehicle cannot be older than 2010.

Rapido has run into legal troubles in various cities. In October 2018, several bikes were seized in Coimbatore as Rapido was operating without a permit from the transport department. [18] In July 2019, Madras High Court banned Rapido's operations across Tamil Nadu, [19] while Rapido iOS application was removed from the App Store for violating local laws. [20] In August 2019, the court lifted the ban and allowed the company to resume services in the state until the state government framed new regulations for bike taxi services. [21]

In February 2019, more than 200 bike taxis belonging to Rapido and Ola Cabs were seized in Bangalore as the state transport department declared bike taxis to be illegal. [22] In April 2019, more than 170 Rapido bikes were impounded and an investigation was launched against Rapido by the city cyber crime police. [23] Despite the ban, the company was reported to be illegally operating in Bangalore, with Rapido Captains disguised as food delivery executives. [24]

In February 2020, Rapido was banned across Assam, after the transport department found that the company was operating without commercial license or permit from the DTO. [25] In October 2020, shortly after it commenced operations in Mumbai, the city's transport authorities asked the company to stop its services as it was operating without the government's permission. [26]

In January 2022, RTO officials in Bangalore seized over 120 Rapido bikes, after receiving complaints from the city's cab and auto rickshaw unions. [27] In February 2022, Pune RTO officials seized 65 motorbikes belonging to Rapido riders, declaring bike taxi operations to be illegal in the state of Maharashtra. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in India</span> Methods and history of transportation in India

Transport in India consists of transport by land, water and air. Road transport is the primary mode of transport for most Indian citizens, and India's road transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorcycle taxi</span> Form of transport

A motorcycle taxi, or cart bike or bike taxi, is a licensed form of transport in some countries. The taxi typically carries one passenger, who "rides pillion" behind the motorcycle operator. Multiple passengers are common in some countries.

Taxicabs within a country often share common properties, but there is a wide variation from country to country in the vehicles used, the circumstances under which they may be hired and the regulatory regime to which these are subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyft</span> American ride-sharing company

Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand at the time of the booking and are quoted to the customer in advance, and receives a commission from each booking. Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States after Uber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridesharing company</span> Online vehicle for hire service

A ridesharing company is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxis, cannot legally be hailed from the street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ola Cabs</span> Indian multinational ridesharing company

Ola Cabs is an Indian multinational ridesharing company, headquartered in Bangalore. It also operates in other business verticals including financial services and cloud kitchens.

The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they are considered to be illegal taxi operations, while in other areas, they are subject to regulations that can include requirements for driver background checks, fares, caps on the number of drivers in an area, insurance, licensing, and minimum wage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grab (company)</span> Singaporean technology company

Grab Holdings Inc. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered in One-North, Singapore. It is the developer of a super-app for ride-hailing, food delivery and digital payments services on mobile devices that operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DiDi</span> Chinese transportation network company headquartered in Beijing

Didi Chuxing Technology Co., formerly named Didi Dache (嘀嘀打车) and Didi Kuaidi, is a Chinese vehicle for hire company headquartered in Beijing with over 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers. The company provides app-based transportation services, including taxi hailing, private car hailing, social ride-sharing, and bike sharing; on-demand delivery services; and automobile services, including sales, leasing, financing, maintenance, fleet operation, electric vehicle charging, and co-development of vehicles with automakers. The company is a subsidiary of Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yandex Taxi</span> Russian taxi service

Yandex Taxi is an international company operating taxi hailing and food delivery services across Russia, the CIS, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It is owned by Russian tech company Yandex. The company is among the world's leading developers of self-driving technology.

Careem is a Dubai-based super app with operations in over 100 cities, covering 12 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia regions. The company, which was valued at over US$2 billion in 2018, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber after being acquired for $3.1 billion in January 2020. Careem expanded into the food delivery business with Careem Now in November 2018 and launched a digital payment platform, Careem Pay in April 2022. Careem's Super App business was divested by Uber in April 2023 to become a private company again, with e& taking a 50.03% stake, while Uber retains Careem's ride-hailing business.

PT Gojek Indonesia is an Indonesian on-demand multi-service platform and digital payment technology group based in Jakarta. Gojek was first established in Indonesia in 2009 as a call center to connect consumers to courier delivery and two-wheeled ride-hailing services. Gojek launched its application in 2015 with only four services: GoRide, GoSend, GoShop, and GoFood. Valued at US$10 billion today, Gojek has transformed into a super app, providing more than 20 services.

Dunzo is an Indian company that delivers fruits and vegetables, meat, pet supplies, food, and medicines in major cities. It also has a separate service to pick up and deliver packages within the same city. Dunzo currently provides its delivery services in eight Indian cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The company also operates a bike taxi service in Gurgaon. Dunzo is headquartered in Bangalore and was founded in 2014 by Kabeer Biswas along with co-founders Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha. Dalvir Suri left Dunzo on 3 October 2023, along with Mukund Jha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bykea</span> Ride hailing and Parcel delivery Company

Bykea, stylized as BYKEA, is a Pakistani ride-hailing service and parcel delivery company based in Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded by Muneeb Maayr, Abdul Mannan, and Rafiq Malik in 2016.

Swiggy is an Indian online food ordering and delivery platform. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is headquartered in Bangalore and operates in more than 500 Indian cities as of September 2021. Besides food delivery, the platform also provides on-demand grocery deliveries under the name Instamart, and same-day package delivery service called Swiggy Genie.

Transport in Bangalore consists of several intracity commute modes such as BMTC buses, Namma Metro rail services, taxis and auto rickshaws, as well as several intercity forms of transport: Government operated KSRTC, NWKRTC, KKRTC, other states RTC buses, Private bus operators, trains, and flights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers</span> Trade union federation of app-based transport workers in India

The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) is a trade union federation of ride-sharing and other gig transport workers. In India, this includes the workers on platforms such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Rapido and Dunzo. The federation is affiliated with the International Transport Workers Federation.

Taxis in Vietnam are part of a complex transportation and economic system within the country. Taxicabs are one facet of a diverse 'vehicle for hire' ecosystem in Vietnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gokada</span>

Gokada is a tech startup based in Lagos, Nigeria. The startup launched as a ride-hailing company in 2017, before diversifying into Logistics and Food Delivery in 2020 after a ban on commercial motorcycles by the Government of Lagos State.

Shaik Salauddin is the elected National General Secretary, and a co-founder, of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), a trade union federation of ride-sharing and other gig transport workers. This includes the workers on platforms such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Rapido and Dunzo, since 2019. He is also the founder and current president of the Telangana Four Wheeler Drivers' Association.

References

  1. ↑ "Bike-taxi service Rapido to double its presence to 150 cities in 6 months". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  2. ↑ "Rapido shifts focus to logistics; sees 25% business recovery and aims for 1.5x growth next year over FY20". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "Rapido targets to more than double user base". The Hindu. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Startup Street: Rapido Begins Its Delhi City Service Amid Odd-Even Curbs". Bloomberg. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  5. ↑ "Indian Motorbike-Taxi Service Rapido Aims To Reach 1 Million Rides Each Day In 2019". Forbes. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  6. ↑ "Bike taxi app Rapido to launch new features for visually-challenged commuter". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "Pawan Munjal, Rajan Anandan invest in bike taxi operator Rapido". Economic Times. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  8. ↑ "We took a bold step to focus on tier-2 cities". Livemint. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  9. ↑ SH, Salman (22 June 2020). "Bike taxi startup Rapido launches logistics service for businesses". mint. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  10. ↑ Mukherjee, Sharmistha. "Rapido turns to hyperlocal delivery now". The Economic Times. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  11. ↑ SH, Salman (15 October 2020). "Bike taxi app Rapido forays into on-demand autorickshaw service". mint. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Rapido raises $180 mn in funding round led by Swiggy, TVS Motor". www.fortuneindia.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  13. ↑ Singh, Manish (15 April 2022). "Swiggy backs bike taxi platform Rapido in $180 million funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  14. ↑ Singh, Jagmeet (27 October 2023). "India's bike taxi startup Rapido is getting into the cab business". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "Bike ride, a click away". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Rapido kick-starts its operations in Warangal". Telangana Today. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Rapido plans to launch "power pass" for regular commuters". Economic Times. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  18. ↑ "Bike taxi service runs into dead end". Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  19. ↑ "Explainer: Why bike sharing app Rapido has been banned across Tamil Nadu". The News Minute. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  20. ↑ Upadhyay, Harsh (19 July 2019). "Rapido app lifted from Apple app store following Madras HC ban order". Entrackr. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  21. ↑ Correspondent, Legal (2 August 2019). "Rapido can continue operations in T.N.: HC". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Bike taxis are illegal says Karnataka transport dept, impounds 200 bikes". The News Minute. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  23. ↑ "Bad news for Bengaluru commuters: RTO officials issue notice to Rapido for 'illegal bike taxi service'". Asianet. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  24. ↑ "Bike taxis hide behind aggregators, operate illegally under the radar". New Indian Express. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  25. ↑ "Assam Transport Department bans Rapido-Bike Taxi Service in Guwahati, Office sealed". The Sentinel Assam. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  26. ↑ "RTO asks Rapido to shut bike taxi service". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  27. ↑ Mathew Philip, Christin (1 February 2022). "120 bike-taxis seized in four hours in Bengaluru, Rapido cries foul". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  28. ↑ "Pune RTO Seizes 65 Motorcycles Being Used For Bike Taxi By Rapido". Punekar News. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.