Rapido, a popular ride platform in India that competes with Uber, has doubled its valuation to $2.3 billion after a secondary stock sale by food delivery giant Swiggy. A few weeks after Rapido starts steering food delivery and borders Swiggy’s core area, stock sales occur.
According to regulatory filings, Swiggy offloaded the entire 12% stake in Rapido for $220 million (approximately $270 million). About 10% of the shares have been acquired by Prosus for £196.8 billion (approximately $222 million), with the remaining shares being sold for £43.1 billion (approximately $49 million), according to a regulatory filing released after Swiggy’s board meeting.
Prousus, a Dutch investment group, is already a common supporter of both Swiggy and Rapido, and is Swiggy’s biggest shareholder.
Rapido’s latest share sale will peg startups at two or more $1.1 billion valuations starting in September 2024. These are the numbers that the CEO has confirmed on TechCrunch.
In August, Rapido attempted to deliver food in Bengaluru through a pilot program run by a subsidiary. The pilot marked entry into the Rapid sector, which Swiggy and his tournament Zomato had long ruled. Rapido co-founder and CEO Aravind Sanka confirmed with TechCrunch about the pilot and said it originally started in three areas of the city.
Rapido’s entry into food delivery took place for three years after Swiggy supported the startup in April 2022 with a $180 million funding round.
Rapido also partnered with Swiggy as a last mile delivery provider to help fulfill food orders on the platform. With Swiggy’s early partnership, Rapido has given a window into customer demand patterns and the operational challenges facing restaurants on the platform.
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Swiggy hinted that it could potentially sell Rapido’s shares earlier this year. In a July letter to shareholders, Swiggy said he was revaluing Rapido’s shares due to potential conflicts of interest. Swiggy co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety said in a July revenue call that the company “even had a conversation about a potential food delivery collaboration with Rapido.”
“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and Rapido decided to enter the business,” Majety told investors on the call.
It’s still too early to measure whether Rapido’s emerging food delivery business will affect current positions like Swiggy and Zomato.
This entry was expected to pressure existing players to lower their commissions to maintain restaurant partners. However, recent updates to the Indian Government of Goods and Services Tax (GST) could limit pricing flexibility, with flat 18% tax imposed on online food delivery, making cost competitiveness ineffective.
That said, Rapido was already a strong competitor in the Indian riding market. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently described the startup as Uber’s biggest rival in India.
As Rapido sneaks into food delivery, Swiggy continues to build an instant commerce business. This is a competitive industry that quickly offers groceries and other items within an hour.
Swiggy has announced the creation of a step-down subsidiary for the rapidly growing Quick Commerce Arm Instamart. The move will help strengthen its position in India’s competitive quick commerce market, including players such as Zomato’s Blinkit, Flipkart, and Amazon. This structure also paves the way for potential spinoffs of Instamart or individual funding in the future.
Instamart has emerged as Swiggy’s fastest growing business in recent months, with total order value increasing by 82% to 1468.3 billion ($1.7 billion) in fiscal year 2025 (PDF). Instamart’s revenue more than doubled to £225.2 billion ($254 million), surpassing the core food delivery segment, with an orderly increase of 16.4% and revenues increased by 83%.
