Rapido: The Motorbike King of India

In urban India — the world’s most populous country — one of the biggest day-to-day pain points is congestion. In fact 3 of the top 10 most congested cities in Asia are in India (Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi) including the most and third-most congested city. India’s huge population of 1.4 billion and significant urban congestion problem has attracted the attention of entrepreneurs across the nation who sense a major opportunity.

While mobility startups such as Uber and Ola have flooded the Indian mobility market with more than a million cabs in the past decade, two-wheelers (motorbikes) and three-wheelers (rickshaws) remain a more popular transportation solution in urban cities. They are far more affordable and effective as they can zip through traffic faster. In fact in 2017 India was named the world’s biggest 2-wheeler market with 17.7 million units sold that year.

In 2015, Indian startup Rapido was born as India’s first and fastest-growing bike (motorbike) taxi aggregator. Unlike its major competitors Ola and Uber the company only operates in the 2 and 3-wheeler categories. In recent years, both Ola and Uber have also expanded to two-wheeler and three-wheeler categories.

Rapido was founded by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli and Rishikesh SR and is headquartered in Bangalore. It is backed by investors like Indian food giant Swiggy, Westbridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Skycatcher, and India Technology Fund.