India is a fast growing economy with lots of job opportunities opening up across the country. These jobs, however, are centred mostly around metro cities, or at best, Tier 1 cities. With such large influx of migrants entering urban areas from rural areas, mobility becomes a point of concern for authorities and governments alike as not everyone prefers public transport. In comes ride hailing services like Rapido, that entered the market with bike taxi business and then diversified its scope of operations with auto services in 14 cities. Rapido is relying on technology to offer seamless consumer experience. We got in touch with Aravind Sanka, Co-founder, Rapido to understand the business model and road ahead.
Q.Tell us about Rapido’s journey in India
Rapido has sphere-headed ride-hailing services in the bike taxi segment in India. Since its commencement of business in 2015, Rapido has built a customer base of over 15 million users, which makes it the largest bike taxi player and the 3rd largest ride-hailing platform in the country. As of the present date, Rapido employs more than 1,500 personnel pan India and its app can be accessed in multiple cities across the country.
The company features a pool of 1.5 million trustworthy Captains, who relentlessly serve customers by making transportation easier and more accessible. Rapido has reached a breakeven point in almost all cities where it has been present for over a year and expects to reach profitability soon.
Q.Tell us about Rapido Auto, Rapido Local & Rapido Bike
Rapido features 3 services including Rapido Bike Taxi, Rapido Auto, and Rapido Local. Starting with Rapido Bike Taxi, it is the most popular service in the company’s portfolio. Launched in 2015, Rapido’s bike taxi service today serves over 15 million users across almost 100 cities. Rapido Auto Service, another brilliant offering, enables day-to-day commuting via auto at a meter price, plus a convenience fee.
In an attempt to make the Auto Service available, Rapido has onboarded 1.5 Lakh autos across the country and has served 2 million customers since its launch. It also plans to add 5 lakh autos country-wide by the end of this year. Lastly, Rapido Local provides P2P service, enabling a safe exchange of essentials including food, medicines and groceries on the app. Using the Rapido Local service, customers can request pick and drop of essentials at their doorstep or the residence of their family/friends.
Q.How has been pandemic for Rapido and learnings?
Rapido’s transformation from a last-mile connectivity tool to an end-to-end travel option has been evident in the pandemic. We are using technology to propel newer models that will help serve end-users and businesses in the post COVID world. With strong tech capabilities, we were able to innovate our way of conducting business and reduce the impact of the pandemic on our Captains’ livelihoods. We implemented the following innovations for our customers and Captains within a stipulated time frame and maintained business continuity during the lockdown.
Rapido has been operating delivery services for e-commerce companies (like Zomato, Swiggy, Myntra, SuprDaily, Bharatpe and more) for close to 2 years now. Amid COVID-19 induced lockdowns, we accelerated the existing Rapido-Delivery services by partnering with major online companies like Big Bazaar, Big Basket, and Spencer’s for the delivery of essential goods. We supported the Delhi Government in delivering essential items like milk and food packets (under the DCPC Node) to underprivileged areas across the city.
Additionally, we collaborated with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (Karnataka Government) COVID-19 Home Delivery Helpline, as a delivery service partner, in a move to resolve supply-chain challenges amidst lockdown. As far as our new offerings are concerned, we launched Rapido Local, a person-to-person delivery service in Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad and expanded it close to 100 cities.
Q.Tell us about Rapido’s entry into EV fleet business
Today, many people have understood the importance of adopting electric vehicles to reduce the trace of carbon footprint across the globe. As per the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor, close to 4 million two-wheeler & three-wheeler vehicles could be sold each year by 2025, taking the count to approximately 10 million by 2030.
Though the future is EV, a lot needs to be done to build a robust and viable ecosystem for the same. A few immediate challenges like inadequate charging infrastructure, poor incentives for manufacturers, and high pricing schemes for EV vehicles need to be addressed to drive the EV revolution in India.
We are all set to electrify close to 10% of our fleet through strategic tie-ups. We launched the pilot with Zypp Electric, a Delhi-based last-mile connectivity app and received an overwhelming response from our customers in the city. We will soon onboard more such partners, aiming to expand our business model to all Tier-I markets in the country.
Q.How startups are leveraging technologies to drive the growth?
A business model cannot develop without the advancement of integrated technology. During the ongoing pandemic, Indian start-ups (especially ride-hailing apps and services) have attracted a puddle of investors and investments worth millions. In just four months six Indian start-ups have raised $1.55 Bn.
The investments in start-ups from January to May 2021 are 81% of the total investments raised, which is $9.94 Bn in 2020, accounting for $8.76 Bn (an increase of 80% from H1 2020 levels). Besides attracting investments, start-ups are also focused on enhancing the safety aspects to ensure customer safety in business. For instance, Rapido introduced safety shields, cashless payment options, etc. for the same purpose.
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