Bengaluru-based bike taxi startup Rapido has raised $180 million in its Series D funding round led by food delivery giant Swiggy, per an announcement on Friday.
The round also saw investment from two-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company, along with existing investors, Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures, the company said in a statement.
The funds would be used to bolster technology, amplify and strengthen its teams across diverse sets of capabilities, increase overall supply to create an enhanced consumer experience across a larger audience base in metros, tier 1, 2, and 3 cities, and ensure seamless last-mile connectivity, the startup said.
Rapido added that it will be investing these funds in all its three categories — bike-taxi, auto, and delivery — to enhance its drive partners’ earnings and improve customer experience in the over 100 cities where it operates.
On the investment from Swiggy, Rapido said that Swiggy’s participation in this round will build on the synergies between the two companies.
“We look forward to learning from Swiggy’s experience to scale up throughout the country and enhance our captains’ (driver-partners) and customers’ experience, who are the backbone of our business,” said Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka.
“TVS Motor, which is very passionate about EVs and the future of mobility, will help us in further expansion. We hope to accelerate our pace of becoming a household name as we increase our geographies and services, on the backbone of our robust, global-standard technology,” he added.
Rapido had last raised $52 million from investors including Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah (founder, CRED), Amarjit Singh Batra (CEO, Spotify India), and Positive Moves Consulting in August 2021.
The startup is currently present in around 100 cities across India, with over 25 million customers and over 1.5 million captains (driver-partners).