Bike-taxi startup Rapido enters cab biz with intra-city mobility solution

Bike-taxi startup Rapido on Tuesday announced its strategic entry into the cab business, with launching an intra-city, SaaS-based mobility solution with Rapido Cabs.

With a 60 per cent market share in bike taxis, the startup has expanded its footprint with Rapido Cabs, introducing an initial fleet of 1 lakh vehicles.

“Our innovative SaaS-based platform revolutionizes the conventional commission system for drivers, tackling the persistent challenge of commission sharing with aggregators. This pioneering approach ensures that drivers incur only a minimal software usage fee, marking a significant shift in the industry,” said Pavan Guntupalli, Co-founder of Rapido.

The SaaS-based platform connects drivers and customers without exerting control over the marketplace. Within the Rapido ecosystem, drivers enjoy direct payment from customers, free from any interference by Rapido.

Drivers are required to pay a nominal subscription fee. Upon reaching earnings of Rs 10,000 from the Rapido app, drivers will be subject to a modest subscription fee of Rs 500, said the company.
“Simultaneously, passengers benefit from competitive fares in the cab segment, as the all-encompassing SaaS-based platform consolidates various commuting solutions into a single, user-friendly app,” said Rapido.

Rapido, which was founded in 2015, now operates in over 100 cities and has over 25 million app downloads.

According to the data available on Tracxn, Rapido has raised $324 million in total. In April last year, the company raised $180 million led by the online food delivery service Swiggy.