Bengaluru-based Taxi Start-up Rapido Raises US$55 million in Series C round of funding led by WestBridge Capital & Others Rapido Raises US$55 million in Series C round of funding led by WestBridge Capital & Others
By Bhavya Kaushal •
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As Indians, we were beginning to think that perhaps the era of taxis and autos are gone with a new era gliding into the Indian ecosystem with Ubers and Olas. We could be wrong as India is not yet done with these primary modes of transport that have adorned India's transportation context for years.
Investors, too, are not yet done as the latest start-up to bag funding is none other than Bengaluru-based Bike-Taxi start-up, Rapido which raised US$55 million in Series C round of funding led by WestBridge Capital and also saw participation from existing investors including Nexus Venture Partners, Ant Financial-backed BAce Fund, Astrend India Investment Limited, and others, media reports suggest.
Rapido joins the bandwagon of startups excelling in the mobility space including Bounce, Yulu Bikes, Vogo etc.
Rapido which was founded in 2015 by Pavan Guntupalli, Aravind Sanka, Rishikesh S R is available on Android and currently operates in 12 cities including Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad.
The mobility start-up has been storming waves of controversy for some time now. Less than a month ago, the Madras High Court had sent out a notice halting its operations after facing objections from the Tamil Nadu. Cab aggregator unicorn, Ola, faced the same fate ealier this year. It all started on March 22, with Ola getting banned in Karnataka on the grounds of violating licensing conditions. Three days later, the ban was lifted and the cab aggregator's parent company, ANI Technologies was imposed with the fine of INR 15 lakhs. According to media reports, the company had filed a petition challenging the ban and the fine.
On the other hand, start-ups like Bounce and Vogo have been flourishing with investors pumping big money into these start-ups. Most recently, Bounce raised $72 million in Series B round of funding led by B Capital and Falcon Edge.
