With the world getting busy each passing day, the public needs for more transportation are also burgeoning. It is further paving a vast swathe of opportunities for various emerging enterprises. From Ola, and Uber to now Rapido, all are competing with a close edge, in the wake of becoming the talk of the town. To put it more recently, Rapido has emerged immensely with its market inclusive strategies, amid the already congested online taxi services market.
Rapido’s heightened value
In the recent funding round conducted by Swiggy, the online food servicing company, it was found that Rapido, the bike taxi aggregator was valued at over US$ 830 million. This value further paved the way for the transport company to emerge as one of the most popular bike taxi servicing companies.
Achieving this million milestone is commendable by an organization that made it to $2 million success in just three years. With this, it has become the only bike-taxi company to achieve this landmark. Evidently, the company is on the verge of being carnated in the list of successful unicorns of the country.
On the other hand, companies like Ola and Uber, encountered humongous popularity in their respective journeys. In this regard, they did challenged the newly emerged Rapido, but was not able to shaken its morale. From a mere small firm to becoming the talk of the town, Rapido received immense upswing in its growth graph.
The beginning of the era
The August 2015 establishment has become India’s first and biggest bike taxi company. It was ventured as theKarrier by two IIT alumni and a PESU alumnus, which includes Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and SR Rishikesh. The company’s services are available in almost 16 cities across India and are adding two cities every month.
Identifying the existing gap in the need for commuters, became an initiating point for the business to embrace its name in every nook and corner of the country. Concerning the already existing taxi services like Ola and Uber, Co-founder Pavan Guntupalli observed that these companies cater to a mere 13 to 14 percent of the commuters population in Bengaluru. This further became a business idea for Rapido to launch an alternative and affordable means in the market.
Rise and rise of Rapido
As per 2021 data, the Rapido app is witnessing a monthly growth of 30 percent with 1.5 lakh registered ‘captains’ on the platform. It serves around 30,000 rides, daily with 10,000 monthly drivers on board. According to the company’s Co-founder, Rapido’s customers save 60 to 70 percent on an average, of the costs. With its varied services, customer’s spend 30 to 40 percent of less time in traffic when compared to the cabs.
Apart from this, the company is also popular with its distinguished strategies introduced for visually impaired people to make their commuting journey comfortable. About 80 to 100 visually challenged people use Rapido app every day. Its co-founder Aravind Sanka had said, “We have also partnered with TrueCaller. The visually-challenged people will have to just give a missed call to us for auto-registration.”
Used hurdles as opportunities
Because of the company’s wide spectrum of strategies for serving its customers, it is continuously upsurging in the already brow beated market. As per the company’s top executive, Rapido’s bike taxi segment contributes to almost 78 percent of the overall business. The company’s customer bandwagon base has grown up to over 15 million users.
In the year 2020, when the whole world was at a standstill and commuting was wholly at the dead end, Rapido didn’t deviate and it focused on its growth. It was quick to bounce back with its continued technique to engage its customers through digital mediums. Further, for 2021, Rapido earmarked $ 20 million in marketing spending.
As reported by Economic Times, Rapido commands almost 70 percent of the bike taxi sharing market. It has raised a total funding of Rs. 558 crores from various investors, which include Westbridge AIF, Nexus Ventures, Konark Trust, Sabre Investment, Skycatcher LLC, Bace Fund, and Integrated Growth Capital among others. In addition, it has closed its Series B funding round at Rs 390.11 crore.
Comparing competitors
India’s first bike-taxi service is incessantly burgeoning and is marking unstoppable success in the market. While it is also pertinent to note that the company has also faced severe challenges from its rival companies like Ola and Uber. However, they are themselves now clearing the fog.
As reported by TFI, Ola’s loss amounted to Rs 2,208 crore in the year 2020. Though it was nearly 300 crores less than the last year, Ola’s revenue, an indication of how much it is popular among the masses was registering a decline. On the other hand, even Uber is set to decline with its recent case of “Uber File Leaks”.
With this, it can be evident that both Ola and Uber’s dirt is coming out in the open, further leading to their gradual decline. To put it simply, Ola and Uber are getting nosedived, and this will further be proved as an opportunity for Rapido to emerge as a big boom in the market.
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