Rapido posts 10X topline growth; spent Rs 350 Cr in FY20

Bike taxi platform Rapido has stood out as one of the startups who managed to gain traction in the intra-city mobility space during the last fiscal. The Westbridge-backed company has managed to scale up its operations significantly offering Bike taxis, autos and hyper-local delivery services across 100 cities.

Rapido’s topline shot up 10X to Rs 106.5 crore during the fiscal ended in March 2020 and its revenue from operations grew 9.4X from Rs 9.82 crore in FY19 to more than Rs 92.2 crore during FY20.

Bike taxi was the most popular amongst the services Rapido offers, accounting for 53.7% of the revenues during FY20. This figure grew 7.3X as compared to Rs 6.8 crore earned from the same during FY19. Income from delivery services also shot up 11X to nearly Rs 34 crore during FY20 from around Rs 3 crore in FY19.

During FY20, the company introduced two new revenue verticals namely subscription and marketing fees which accounted for Rs 3.75 crore and Rs 5.14 crore respectively, providing a noteworthy addition to its collections.

Rapido had scooped its Series B round led by WestBridge Capital in August 2019 and collected an aggregate of Rs 469 crore through allotment of shares during FY20.

The surge in cash burn in pursuit of growth was also evident in the cash flows as the company saw its net cash outflow from operations ballon 5.3X from Rs 47 crore in FY19 to more than Rs 248 crore in FY20.

Marketing was the biggest cost centre for Rapido, accounting for 44.2% of the total expenditure, growing 5.6X to Rs 154.6 crore during FY20. Incentive and related payments also ballooned 6.3X from Rs 14.12 crore in FY19 to a little over Rs 89 crore during the same period.

Employee benefit expenses rose 3.6X from Rs 11.6 crore in FY19 to Rs 41.53 while the company spent additional Rs 13.8 crore on contracted labour during FY20. The company spent 9X more on development on infrastructure and software development, amounting to more than Rs 14 crore during FY20.

Further, payment gateway costs of around Rs 1.5 crore pushed total expenditure to around Rs 350 crore during FY20, ballooning 5.5X as compared to Rs 64 crore spent during FY19.

Rapido spent Rs 3.8 to earn a single rupee during the fiscal ended in March 2020, improving by 41.5% from Rs 6.5 spent for the same during FY19.

While the company managed to improve its EBITDA margins from nearly -500% in FY19 to -228.09% in FY20, Rapido lost serious money doing business. Annual losses shot up 4.6X from Rs 53.3 crore in FY19 to Rs 243.6 crore in FY20. 

Rapido’s financial performance has been promising in FY20 as compared to other growth stage consumer-facing startups in India. Its 1000% growth in topline is a clear indicator that there is space for differentiated service providers in the Indian intercity mobility space which is dominated by multi-billion dollar corporations such as Uber and Ola. 

With bumper growth in revenue, Rapido has also managed to optimise unit economics. If we compare its topline and expenses with other growth-stage startups of similar age, the company is comparatively in a healthier state. Of late, it also has started hourly rentals on bike and auto. These services are likely to contribute a significant chunk of additional income in the ongoing fiscal.