Food Delivery company Swiggy eyes investment in Rapido as a part of larger financing round
- ByTejika Bajaj | December 23, 2021
Food-delivery Company Swiggy is in the final stages of discussions to invest in Bangalore-based bike-taxi startup Rapido, confirmed two people in the know of the matter.
The capital infusion from Swiggy is part of a larger financing round of $150-200 million that Rapido is in talks to raise. If the investments deal goes through, it will help Swiggy enhance its last-mile delivery capabilities and bolster its quick commerce ambitions. The funding will also be Swiggy’s first bet in the mobility sector.
People aware of the development said Rapido was also engaged with Zomato but those conversations fell through recently. Zomato has been on an investment spree after going public, having backed startups including Blinkit (formerly Grofers), Shiprocket, and Magicpin.
Rapido, which started off as a bike-taxi platform, has been growing its business-to-business vertical wherein it caters to the likes of Swiggy by fulfilling their orders using its riders. The company has also expanded into the three-wheeler segment launching services across 26 cities.
Sources close to the development revealed that while there are synergies that a player like Swiggy can draw from Rapido, which is essentially a shared mobility platform, for now, the investment is purely financial in nature with no exclusivity being given to the food-ordering company.
Swiggy’s potential investment in Rapido coincides with the food-delivery major’s push into newer categories. ET has been reporting on the meteoric rise of the so-called ultrafast delivery firms led by the likes of Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto, Zomato-backed Blinkit (formerly Grofers) which have been snagging investor capital to deliver groceries and essentials in 10 minutes.
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