Pavan Guntupalli, co-founder of the rapidly growing ride-hailing platform Rapido, takes a hands-on approach to both his professional and personal life. On a recent day in Bengaluru, Guntupalli traded his executive duties for a more grounded role—driving a sky-blue electric auto rickshaw. Despite his status as one of India's leading startup founders, he was perfectly at ease slipping into the khaki uniform typical of local auto-rickshaw drivers and offering a ride himself. Guntupalli, who doesn’t own a car, is a firm believer in the future of shared mobility—not just professionally, but personally as well.
Founded in 2015, Rapido has emerged as one of the top three players in India's competitive ride-hailing market, alongside global giants Uber and Ola. Initially launched as a bike-taxi service, Rapido quickly expanded its offerings, adding auto rickshaws to its fleet in 2020 and launching cab services in late 2020. This expansion has fueled the company's growth, with the startup recently hitting a milestone of one billion rides and securing a $120 million funding round in July 2024. The funding round, which was led by WestBridge Capital, has elevated the company to a unicorn status with a valuation of $1 billion. In fiscal year 2023, Rapido reported a revenue of ₹1,497 crore and a gross merchandise value (GMV) of ₹12,520 crore, which has tripled in the current fiscal year.
One of Rapido's distinctive features is its subscription-based model for driver-partners, also known as "captains," diverging from the commission-based system most platforms use. In this model, drivers pay a subscription fee for access to the platform, providing them with more predictable earnings. Additionally, the Rapido app allows riders to offer a top-up fee when demand exceeds supply, directly incentivizing captains during peak times. Even smaller improvements, such as standardizing the one-time pin (OTP) for each ride, have helped reduce friction in the user experience, a subtle but significant step in enhancing customer satisfaction.
Guntupalli’s journey to building Rapido wasn’t without its challenges. Before venturing into the ride-hailing business, he co-founded TheKarrier, a logistics startup aimed at transforming intra-city goods transportation. TheKarrier utilized technology to connect drivers and customers in an unregulated market, quickly achieving substantial revenues. However, despite the financial success, Guntupalli and his team felt they were not creating the kind of societal impact they desired. The team ultimately pivoted, transitioning from B2B logistics to B2C ride-sharing—a decision that would lead to the creation of Rapido.
The decision to focus on two-wheeler taxis stemmed from a keen observation of the needs of daily commuters, particularly in cities like Bengaluru. "We realized that the middle class was spending a significant portion of their income on daily commuting, and taxis or autos were simply not affordable for regular use," Guntupalli recalls. The founders identified motorcycles as an affordable and efficient solution, providing low-income workers with a viable mode of transportation. Their initial foray into the market was humble, with the co-founders themselves driving bikes as captains to get the service off the ground.
One of Rapido’s core missions from the outset was to ensure the platform was inclusive, particularly for women users. "We believed that if we could make women feel safe using bike taxis, we would have built a truly universal service," Guntupalli explains. Today, nearly 22% of Rapido’s bike taxi customers are women, and the company is actively recruiting female captains to further improve accessibility and safety.
The idea for Rapido emerged from Guntupalli’s previous entrepreneurial ventures, particularly from his time at TheKarrier. The founders saw firsthand how transportation inefficiencies—like unreliable buses and expensive auto rickshaws—were eating into the daily earnings of low-wage workers. It was through these observations that the concept of affordable, shared two-wheeler transportation took shape.
Despite the success of Rapido, the company faces regulatory challenges, particularly in states like Karnataka, where bike taxis are not fully legalized. However, recent regulatory shifts at the national level have helped normalize the industry. In 2024, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued an advisory, recognizing motorcycles as eligible for use as contract carriages, providing a legal framework for bike-taxi services across India. While progress has been made, Guntupalli advocates for continued regulatory reforms to accommodate and foster the growth of the ride-hailing sector.
The entrepreneurial path wasn’t straightforward for Guntupalli. Before his success with Rapido, he struggled through numerous ventures, many of which ended in failure. He credits his resilience to his early experiences in business and the lessons learned from those failures. "I had no clear direction when I started my entrepreneurial journey," he admits. "But failure was a part of the process, and it eventually led me to the right opportunity." After attempting various businesses—from real estate to mining—he found his calling in transportation and logistics.
In the future, Guntupalli envisions a more sustainable and efficient urban mobility system. With plans to electrify Rapido’s fleet and streamline two-wheeler usage, he aims to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions in Indian cities. "The two-wheeler is the most affordable mode of transport in India, and by optimizing its use, we can help millions of people earn a living while simultaneously improving the environment," he says.
Today, Rapido stands as a testament to the transformative potential of shared mobility. While the road to success was far from linear, Guntupalli and his team’s commitment to solving urban transportation challenges has made Rapido a key player in India’s rapidly evolving mobility landscape. Looking ahead, Guntupalli remains optimistic about the future of the industry, confident that continued innovation will pave the way for even greater advancements in urban transportation.
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