India’s Rapido begins testing food delivery to take on Swiggy, Zomato

Rapido, a popular ride-hailing platform in India, has quietly begun beta testing its food delivery service in Bengaluru, marking its first serious move to challenge market leaders Swiggy and Zomato in one of the world’s fastest-growing delivery markets.

The 10-year-old startup has started testing its food delivery service in three primary localities in the southern city of Bengaluru, namely Byrasandra, Tavarekere, and Madiwala (BTM) Layout, Hosur Sarjapura Road (HSR) Layout, and Koramangala, Rapido co-founder and CEO Aravind Sanka confirmed to TechCrunch.

Rapido created a wholly owned subsidiary Ctrlx Technologies to launch its food delivery service, named Ownly. The subsidiary lists Sanka and Rapido vice president of finance Vivek Krishna as the directors, per the regulatory filings reviewed by TechCrunch.

Sanka said there was no specific reason for setting up the subsidiary. However, it may be a strategic move to avoid potential conflicts of interest with Swiggy, which currently holds a 12% minority stake in the ride-hailing startup.

Swiggy recently confirmed in a letter to shareholders that it would reevaluate its investment in Rapido, citing a potential conflict of interest “that may arise in the future.”

Meanwhile, Rapido’s Ownly has also released its Android app on Google Play that offers food from nearby restaurants at around 15% lower prices than those on Swiggy and Zomato.

The lower pricing is a result of Rapido’s model of not taking commissions from restaurants, which are up to 30% in the case of other food delivery apps, including Swiggy and Zomato, and instead charging a fixed fee per order. The startup mentioned its fixed-fee approach in a proposal to restaurants in June.

Rapido has a fleet of around 10 million vehicles, including 5 to 6 million two-wheelers, across India, a person familiar with the startup’s business told TechCrunch recently. The company is using its two-wheeler fleet to deliver food — alongside offering its taxi and courier services.

Rapido will avoid showing restaurants located far from customers to reduce fuel costs and delivery times, and will curate menu items on its app to maximize margins while offering enough discoverability, a Rapido investor told TechCrunch on condition of anonymity.

While handling deliveries for Swiggy, Rapido gained insight into peak hours and high-demand restaurants — the data it would now leverage for its own food delivery service, the investor said.

The agreement with Swiggy does not prevent Rapido from using this data, although it does prohibit the startup from entering into contracts with Zomato or other competitors, the investor added.

Founded in 2015, Rapido began as a bike taxi aggregator before expanding into auto rickshaws, parcel delivery, and third-party logistics. In 2023, it entered the cab business to take on Uber and local rival Ola. The startup gained traction in this segment with its subscription-based model, positioning it as an alternative to the commission-based approach used by its competitors.

Rapido also partnered with Taiwanese battery-swapping electric two-wheeler maker Gogoro to deploy its vehicles as bike taxis. Moreover, the recent moves helped the startup boost its valuation and become a unicorn last year.

India’s online food delivery market is projected to surpass ₹2 trillion (approximately $23 billion) by 2030, per a report by Bain & Company and Swiggy released last year. Zomato currently leads the market with a 58% share, according to brokerage firm Motilal Oswal, while Swiggy holds the remaining 42%, per Bernstein. Uber was also among the early players in the space with Uber Eats, which it sold to Zomato in early 2020.

So far, Rapido has raised $574 million in 13 rounds, per Tracxn. It operates in more than 250 cities and handles over 3.5 million rides daily. The startup counts Prosus, WestBridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Think Investments, among its key investors.