BENGALURU :
Roppen Transportation Providers Pvt. Ltd, the operator of motorcycle taxi app Rapido, secured $180 million in a Collection D funding spherical led by meals supply firm Swiggy, based on a VCCircle evaluation based mostly on regulatory filings.
The spherical additionally noticed two-wheeler maker TVS Motor Co. Ltd becoming a member of as a brand new investor, with present backers WestBridge Capital, Nexus Ventures and Shell Ventures.
Rapido didn’t disclose the transaction worth. An individual acquainted with the deal mentioned the funding valued Rapido at $830 million.
The Rapido deal highlights renewed investor curiosity in India’s mobility area after a short lived pause because of the covid-induced turbulence. Final October, public transportation-tech agency Chalo raised $40 million in its Collection C spherical led by Lightrock India and Filter Capital. Chalo additionally acquired scooter rental startup Vogo in March, including to its acquisition of bus aggregator Shuttl’s enterprise for an undisclosed sum in October. Additionally, ride-hailing firm Ola not too long ago raised ₹150 crore in its ongoing Collection J spherical from Axis Progress Avenues AIF and Arrow Multi-Asset Fund.
Rapido raised $124.6 million from Swiggy by promoting 199,948 Collection D obligatory convertible desire shares (CCPS) and 10 fairness shares, based on the filings with the registrar of firms. TVS Motor and WestBridge Capital contributed $15 million and $30 million, respectively. The rest got here from Nexus Ventures and Shell Ventures.
“Whereas we’ve already been working collectively, this funding facilitates nearer alignment to leverage the synergies between the platforms and enhance the worth we offer to each shoppers and supply executives throughout the nation,” mentioned Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and chief govt officer of Swiggy.
Rapido plans to make use of the contemporary capital to enhance expertise, strengthen its workforce and improve total provide to create an enhanced shopper expertise in metros and tier-I, II and III cities.
The platform additionally goals to take a position the newly-raised capital throughout classes comprising bike taxi, auto and supply.
Based by Aravind Sanka, Rishikesh S.R. and Pavan Guntupalli in 2015, Rapido started to broaden past bike taxi service to incorporate auto-rickshaws in a number of cities.
“We stay up for studying from Swiggy’s expertise to scale up all through the nation and improve our clients’ expertise, who’re the spine of our enterprise,” mentioned Sanka.
“Moreover, TVS Motor, who’re very obsessed with EVs and the way forward for mobility, will assist us in additional growth. We hope to speed up our tempo of changing into a family title as we improve our geographies and providers, on the spine of our strong, global-standard expertise,” he mentioned.