Mumbai, Mar 10: Ride-hailing app Rapido is in the midst of a 500-city expansion this year in India, a market where “vastness and depth” of mobility opportunity offers a high-growth upside, according to co-founder Pavan Guntupalli.On whether the company is eyeing an IPO in the near term, Guntupalli told PTI that Rapido is clocking healthy growth, is well capitalised and “will take a call depending on situation”. The focus, for now, is on growth, he asserts.
The commute app, which offers about 33 lakh rides every single day on its auto, bike taxi, and cab services expects to grow “sustainably”.
“We are seeing strong growth, we have already turned market leaders in the two-wheeler industry, and the three-wheeler industry. And we are also glad that in a couple of cities we operate in, we are also market leaders in the four wheeler-industry.
We are currently doing the five lakh rides in cabs and expect strong growth, and this is on the back of our SaaS (software as a service) innovation,” he said referring to Rapido’s model of platform access fee, instead of commission per ride that the company says maximises earnings for its ‘captains’ or drivers.
Rapido clocks about 33 lakh rides per day, he said adding “however, if you compare it to the opportunity as to what India has to offer, we have barely scratched the surface”.
“And just for comparison, if you look at our neighboring country, which has almost similar population, more than a billion…if you see there, the market leader there does around three crore rides every single day. So you can imagine the vastness and the depth of the opportunity of mobility available in India,” he said.
Citing the diverse requirements of Indian mobility market across cities, he said Rapido – from the very beginning – believed that each sub market is unique and needs a “solution of its own”, depending on specific needs.
He emphasised that Rapido’s solutions are geared to providing convenience, affordability and accessibility.
“What we mean by that is, in a small town, maybe there are a lot more two wheelers, a relatively lesser number of three wheelers, and very less number of four wheelers,” he said adding that team Rapido is focused on solutions customised to the needs of specific cities and markets.
“Majority of our growth as of today…more than 35 per cent of the rides that we do are in are in smaller cities…and further to drive that, we have now announced a 500-city expansion. So within this year, we are going to expand into 500 more cities to fuel our growth as well as expansion,” Guntupalli said.
