Rapido, the Bangalore-based bike taxi startup, is in the final phase of finalizing an A&M deal with Hyderabad-based Vave Infosolutions India Pvt. Ltd, owner of motorcycle-sharing startup Getbike, according to a report from VCCircle.
The deal will allow the bike taxi company, which is run by Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd, to enter the Hyderabad market by making use of GetBike’s resources and market presence. Shravya Reddy, who was previously associated with Reliance Communications Ltd and Apalya Technologies, founded Getbike – formerly called Getmi — in September 2017. Getbike raised $100,000 as angel funding 3 months later from a couple of investors, namely, Vamshi Reddy B and Venu Veeramaneni.
The startup began operations as a bike taxi operator catering both general commuters and corporate clients, however, it then began focusing more on catering the B2B sector. Presently, it offers bike service to several clients hailing from sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food and e-commerce. It has also received partnerships with hospital chain Apollo Healthcare; Limetray, an online marketing platform and L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd, among others.
After the impending merger, GetBike will keep focusing its B2B business while Rapido will consolidate its B2C operations in Bangalore and Delhi.
Rapido was founded in November 2015 by IIT alumni Aravind Sanka, Rishikesh SR and Pavan Guntupalli. It is currently backed by Google India’s Managing Director Rajan Anandan and Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal. It has so far raised 4 funding rounds since inception that amounts to $773.9K. Reports emerged lately stating that the company was on the verge of finalizing another fundraise worth $3 million from existing and new investors.
Taxi Bike Market
Several bike startups have emerged in the past two years across several states of the country but many of them were forced to shut down due to a lack of funds, operational challenges and regulatory problems. However, the sector witnessed a good momentum lately after major companies such as Ola and Uber adopted the same verticals.
Indeed, market leaders in cab hailing, Ola and Uber are also providing a bike-sharing service. Ola were even on the lookout to buyout such businesses but it could not be possible. Uber as well stepped up its bike taxi service UberMOTO while Paytm’s Jugnoo is also looking forward to step in this emerging market.