Making Rapido Strides

How the ride-hailing platform is breaking the Ola-Uber duopoly, now commanding nearly half of the market with its cab share doubling in just eight months

- By NAINI THAKER

IN A MARKET LONG DOMINATED by two giants, Rapido has rewritten the rules of ride-hailing in India. Founded in 2015, the Bengaluru-based startup homed in on the underserved bike taxi segment. The idea was simple: “Anyone with the intent of earning money, having some free time and access to a bike should be able to join Rapido,” says Pavan Guntupalli, co-founder of Rapido.

According to industry data, Rapido now commands nearly half the share of the overall ride-hailing market, with its four-wheeler cab segment alone doubling from 15 percent in January to 30 percent in August.

In 2023, Rapido entered the cab aggregation segment and threw down the gauntlet to Uber and Ola. Instead of chasing market leadership through subsidies, Rapido embraced a subscription model for drivers, allowing them to pay a flat fee to access the platform and keep 100 percent of their earnings. The move dismantled the existing duopoly and forced competitors to follow suit.

“We’re already doing half a million rides daily in four-wheelers, which makes us player number two,” Guntupalli tells