A Two-Wheeler Taxi model of Rapido is worth 2.5 billion.
Early in the morning do you get frustrated before going to the office and having to travel by public transport ?
Imagine you have an urgent meeting, and you don't have a transport facility of your own, neither can you afford a high-paying cab or wait for public transport. You hardly have 40 minutes to arrive. How will you travel at this time ?
If your father gets sick and he needs immediate help, how will you reach him within minutes ?
Overcrowded buses, lack of seats and standing in uncomfortable situations. Most importantly, getting delayed and traffic jams. This is the basic life of people who are in urban areas working for their livelihood.
Have you ever thought a bike taxi could bring stable money for an individual ?
Yes, we are talking about the founders of Rapido, who have solved the problems of millions of people with a simple idea.
In 2015, 3 IIT students, who were rejected 75 times, have created a unicorn today.
Aravind sanka, Pavan Guntapalli, and Rishikesh SR. Together, they started a company called Karrier. It was a B2B company where goods and services were supplied. Business was running comfortably, but it had no opportunity to further scale.
Idea
After brainstorming, the founders decided to start a Rapido service, where the concept of a bike taxi where captains would come and pick up the rider. India has the world's largest two-wheelers with 32.63 crore vehicles approximately. As they were affordable and easy to maintain the vehicle with fewer funds. The founders decided to start the Rapido taxi service, which was for every common man. They knew it was self-funded, if they wanted to expand they needed investors.
After 75 rejections, they finally found 3 investors: Anupam Mittal (Shadi.com) , Gaurav Munjal (unacademy), and Kunal Bahl (Snap deal). All 3 popular founders have invested in a bike Taxi called Rapido.
Challenges
The initial stage of Rapido was tough and many people felt there were safety concerns, especially women sitting on the bike. It was a traditional norm. The verification process for Rapido was easier and quick, but there were few incidents which raised questions on Rapido. Tamil nadu and karnataka police have also seized many bikes of Rapido, calling it illegal and unsafe. After constant legal battles, the approval of the bike taxi was open to the market.
Strategy
Compared to OLA and Uber, dominating the market in the taxi sector by giving cab services, they have given drivers incentives and eventually increased the commission, which created a rift among drivers.
* Rapido started the zero commission system where captains do not have to pay rather, they charged daily subscription charges.
*Anybody who has time can start making money through Rapido and earn pocket money. With a Slogan: Join Rapido, Be your own Boss.
* Many Rapido captains earn around 25k to 30k monthly and some even work part-time. From students to unemployed people both started getting benefits.
* Rapido launched the Auto Rickshaw service with a 15% commission just for using the platform and the drivers didn't need to pay extra money based on how many trips they travelled.
Today, Rapido works effectively in 25 cities with more than 10 lakh rides per month, with a net worth of 2.3 billion dollars. Rapido created around 5 lakh jobs with monthly earnings up to 25k. A simple idea which changed millions of people's lives with easy and comfortable travel within minutes.
