Rapido joins unicorn club with $120 Mn round led by WestBridge

Swiggy-backed mobility startup Rapido has turned unicorn with a $120 million Series E funding round led by its largest backer WestBridge Capital which has pumped in money through three different investment vehicles.

The board at Rapido has passed a special resolution to allot 10 equity shares, 95,479 Series E, and 95,489 Series E1 compulsory convertible preferred shares (CCPS) at an issue price of Rs 52,467 per share for a consideration of Rs 1,002 crore or $120 million, the company’s regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies show.

WestBridge has infused the amount via Setu AIF Trust, Konark Trust, and MMPL Trust, according to the filings.

According to Entrackr’s estimates, the company raised the funding at a post-money valuation of Rs 8,517 crore or a little over $1 billion.

Rapido had raised $180 million in Series D funding round in April 2022. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the company was last valued at around $850 million. As of now, it has raised a total of more than $300 million across several funding rounds.

Westbridge is the largest stakeholder in Rapido with 26% stake. It’s worth noting that Swiggy which owns over 15% of the company didn’t invest in the new round as it already filed DRHP for a potential IPO.

As of now, Perfios and Krutrim SI Designs have attained unicorn status while lending firm Moneyview and Leap are set to raise a new round at unicorn valuation. Entrackr exclusively reported the developments.

Rapido also claimed to have left Ola behind and became the number two player after Uber in the overall ride hailing space (bike, auto and cabs).

As of March 2024, Uber processed 19.3 lakh rides on a daily basis while Rapido did 16.5 lakh rides a day and Ola was at 13 lakh rides, as per the Rapido’s internal documents reviewed by Entrackr.

The SaaS play (zero commission model) by Rapido along with cash backs and IPL spending appears to have been paying off well for the company. As per its documents, Rapido has emerged as a leader in the bike taxi space in the country while it dominates the southern part of the country in the auto-hailing segment.

Queries sent to Rapido didn’t elicit any response.

While Rapido is yet to disclose FY24 numbers, the firm’s operating revenue surged 3X to Rs 443 crore during FY23. The steep growth in scale also caused a 54% spike in losses which stood at Rs 675 crore in FY23.