Aadit Palicha, the founder and CEO of Zepto, told TOI that the company maintains control over more than 90% of its delivery fleet internally. However, he declined to comment on any potential talks between Zepto and Rapido.
Similarly, Rapido declined to comment on its proposed partnership with Zepto. "The talks are preliminary in nature but make perfect sense since Nexus Venture Partners is a common investor in the two companies and the synergies just make sense with ample supply at Rapido's end," a person familiar with the talks told TOI.
Currently, Bengaluru-based Rapido works with only two players on its business-to-business (B2B) logistics arm, but only in food delivery – Swiggy and Open Network for Digital Commerce. Swiggy is an investor in Rapido.
“Bike taxi services peak in the morning hours during schools, offices and colleges commute time. These partnerships help utilise the vehicles efficiently throughout the day. For drivers and bikers, their earnings increase by 25% for the same time they spend on the platform,” Rapido founder and CEO Aravind Sanka told TOI.
Rapido, which secured USD 200 million in a funding round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital at a USD 1.1 billion valuation last week, currently handles 2.5 million orders per day, he said. These orders are spread across bike taxis, auto as well as cab rides.
“Our B2B business is less than 7% of the overall business. This side does deliveries using two-wheelers,” Sanka added. The company is present across 100 cities in the country currently. Sanka said that the company operates a fleet of 700,000 riders. “This is a fleet that is larger than leading players in the food or grocery delivery categories,” he added.
Apart from Rapido, other two-wheeler fleet operators such as Tiger Global-backed Loadshare and Flipkart-backed Shadowfax are engaged in food and quick commerce deliveries.
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