Ride-hailing platform Rapido on Thursday said it has raised about $200 million in a Series E round of funding led by WestBridge Capital, at a valuation of $1.1 billion, effectively catapulting into India’s unicorn club.
The round also saw participation from existing investor Nexus along with new investors Think Investments and Invus Opportunities.
The announcement from Rapido comes a month after media reports, citing regulatory filings, that the startup had raised $120 million.
Founded in 2015, Rapido started as a bike-taxi platform, however, with time, it has expanded its offerings to include auto-rickshaws and cabs in over 100 cities. It competes with Uber and Ola and claims that its daily rides have surged to 2.5 million.
It last raised $180 million in its Series D funding round led by food delivery giant Swiggy in 2022. In August 2021, Rapido raised $52 million from investors including Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah (founder, CRED), Amarjit Singh Batra (CEO, Spotify India), and Positive Moves Consulting.
The newly raised funds will be strategically allocated to expanding Rapido’s operations across India and scaling its technology platform to enhance service delivery. Rapido plans to grow its operations across all categories, including bike taxis, three-wheelers, and taxi cabs.
“From dominating bike taxis to making significant strides into three-wheeled autos and cabs, their growth is a testament to their operational rigour and relentless focus on customer and captain satisfaction.” Sumir Chadha, co-founder and Managing Partner at WestBridge Capital, said.
Other investments by Westbridge in India include Meesho, Third Wave Coffee, Prestige Group, Axis Bank, Naukri.com, Shaadi.com, Dr Lal PathLabs, and Nazara Technology.
Rapido has become the fourth company to have breached the $1-billion valuation mark in India this year, after Perfios, a fintech startup that collects data to help financial institutions make lending decisions, raised $80 million in a new funding round by Teachers’ Venture Growth.
