Bike-taxi platform Rapido raises $50 mn

Bengaluru, Aug 16 (IANS) Bike-taxi platform Rapido on Monday announced it has secured $52 mn in its latest round of funding to make strategic investments in cutting-edge innovations, technology, people and supply.The company said its auto service launched in 26 cities has recorded a growth of 4 times and, overall, it has witnessed a strong recovery of 85 per cent as compared to pre-Covid."Today, Rapido is the largest bike taxi player in the country operating in around 100 cities. From 15 million users in the last two years, we now plan to increase that number to 50 million in the next 18 months and continue providing affordable transportation for the masses," said Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder, Rapido.The new funding round saw participation from new investors including Shell Ventures; Yamaha; Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED; Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, Spotify India; and Positive Moves Consulting. The round also saw existing investors PawanMunjal, Hero Group, Westbridge, Nexus Venture and Everblue Management.The company previously raised a total funding of $80 million from various investors., including Westbridge AIF, Nexus Ventures, Sabre Investment, Skycatcher LLC, Bace Fund, Integrated Growth Capital, among others. The company has grown 10 times in FY 2020.
--IANS na/