India’s Rapido Begins Testing Food Delivery To Take On Swiggy, Zomato

Rapido, a celebrated ride-hailing level successful India, has softly begun beta testing its nutrient transportation work successful Bengaluru, marking its first superior move to situation marketplace leaders Swiggy and Zomato successful 1 of nan world’s fastest-growing transportation markets.

The 10-year-old startup has started testing its nutrient transportation work successful 3 superior localities successful nan Southern metropolis of Bengaluru, namely Byrasandra, Tavarekere, and Madiwala (BTM) Layout, Hosur Sarjapura Road (HSR) Layout, and Koramangla, Rapido co-founder and CEO Aravind Sanka confirmed to TechCrunch.

Rapido created a wholly-owned subsidiary Ctrlx Technologies to motorboat its nutrient transportation service, named Ownly. The subsidiary lists Sanka and Rapido Vice President of Finance Vivek Krishna arsenic nan directors, per nan regulatory filings reviewed by TechCrunch.

Sanka said location was nary circumstantial logic for mounting up nan subsidiary. However, it whitethorn beryllium a strategical move to debar imaginable conflicts of liking pinch Swiggy, which presently holds a 12% number liking successful nan ride-hailing startup.

Swiggy precocious confirmed successful a missive to shareholders that it would re-evaluate its finance successful Rapido, citing a imaginable conflict of liking “that whitethorn originate successful nan future.”

Meanwhile, Rapido’s Ownly has besides released its Android app connected Google Play that offers nutrient from adjacent restaurants astatine astir 15% little prices than those connected Swiggy and Zomato.

Rapido’s Ownly Food transportation app

The little pricing is simply a consequence of Rapido’s exemplary of not taking commissions from restaurants, which are up to 30% successful nan lawsuit of different nutrient transportation apps, including Swiggy and Zomato, and alternatively charging a fixed interest per order. The startup mentioned its fixed-fee approach successful a connection to restaurants successful June.

Rapido has a fleet of astir 10 cardinal vehicles, including 5 to 6 cardinal 2 wheelers, crossed India, a personification acquainted pinch nan startup’s business told TechCrunch recently. The institution is utilizing its two-wheeler fleet to present nutrient — alongside offering its taxi and courier services.

Rapido will debar showing restaurants located acold from customers to trim substance costs and transportation times, and will curate paper items connected its app to maximize margins while offering capable discoverability, a Rapido investor told TechCrunch connected information of anonymity.

While handling deliveries for Swiggy, Rapido gained penetration into highest hours and high-demand restaurants — nan information it would now leverage for its ain nutrient transportation service, nan investor said.

The statement pinch Swiggy does not forestall Rapido from utilizing this data, though it does prohibit nan startup from entering into contracts pinch Zomato aliases different competitors, nan investor added.

Founded successful 2015, Rapido began arsenic a motorcycle taxi aggregator earlier expanding into car rickshaws, parcel delivery, and third-party logistics. In 2023, it entered nan cab business to return connected Uber and section rival Ola. The startup gained traction successful this conception pinch its subscription-based model, positioning it arsenic an replacement to nan commission-based attack utilized by its competitors.

Rapido besides partnered pinch Taiwanese battery-swapping electrical two-wheeler shaper Gogoro to deploy its vehicles arsenic motorcycle taxis. Moreover, nan caller moves helped nan startup boost its valuation and become a unicorn past year.

India’s online nutrient transportation marketplace is projected to surpass ₹2 trillion (approximately $23 billion) by 2030, per a study by Bain & Company and Swiggy released past year. Zomato presently leads nan marketplace pinch a 58% share, according to brokerage patient Motilal Oswal, while Swiggy holds nan remaining 42%, per Bernstein. Uber was besides among nan early players successful nan abstraction pinch Uber Eats, which it sold to Zomato successful early 2020.

So far, Rapido has raised $574 cardinal successful 13 rounds, per Tracxn. It operates successful much than 250 cities and handles complete 3.5 cardinal rides daily. The startup counts Prosus, WestBridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Think Investments, among its cardinal investors.