#Asia Hero MotoCorp MD Pawan Munjal backs Indian motorbike taxi startup Rapido

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Rapido, which operates 400 motorbikes across Bangalore, Gurgaon and Delhi, plans to expand locally and scale the team

Rapido Bikers

Bangalore-based motorbike taxi operator Rapido announced today that it has raised an undisclosed sum in pre-series A round of funding led by Pawan Munjal (Chairman, MD & CEO of Hero MotoCorp Ltd).

AdvantEdge Partners, Astarc Ventures, Tesellate Ventures, Anupam Mittal (Founder and CEO of People Group), Harish Bahl (Founder of Smile Group), Ankit Nagori (ex-CBO, Flipkart), Rajan Anandan (MD Google India & Southeast Asia), and Kunal Khattar (serial entrepreneur and Co-founder of Carnation Auto) also participated.

The fund will be used to expand Rapido’s services to other cities and build its teams.

“Our investors will contribute not only by infusing capital but also by sharing expertise in scaling the business. India is a world leader in two wheeler manufacturing which makes bike taxi a potential option for solving the daily commuting problems,” said Rapido Co-founder Aravind Sanka in an official statement.

“We believe India has a potential of more than two million bike taxis and we are at the forefront in this segment building a convenient, cost-effective, faster yet personal mode of transportation,” he added.

The company claimed to be operating over 400 motorbikes across Bangalore, Gurgaon and Delhi. It targets to reach at least 1,000 motorbikes over the next two months.

Also Read: Ola co-founders invest in ‘smart’ electric motorcycle startup Tork

Rapido was founded in November last year by Aravind Sanka, Pavan G, and Rishikesh Sr. It provides features such as quick booking, favourite routes and multiple modes of booking including missed call booking service.

It applies ‘stringent checks and strict penalties’ to ensure safety and customer satisfaction. A rider has to complete a comprehensive test ride process, get the vehicle inspected, get all the requisite documents verified and accomplish mandatory training and certification before coming onboard.

Rapido also monitors speed for each ride and sends prompts to the rider in case of over-speeding. It claims to be the only motorbike taxi service in India that has an emergency SOS button installed within the app.

With a team of 20 people, the company has also partnered locally with leading ambulance services to help reach hospitals in case of emergencies.

Rapido claims to have secured over 50,000 app downloads and delivered more than 125,000 rides.

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