Exclusive: Bike taxi firm Rapido buys motorcycle-sharing startup Getbike

Bengaluru-based bike taxi startup Rapido has acquired Hyderabad-headquartered motorcycle-sharing startup Getbike to enter the business-to-business segment, the two companies' executives told TechCircle.

Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka and Getbike founder Shravya Reddy confirmed the development to TechCircle. Reddy will move to Bengaluru as part of the deal. The executives didn't disclose financial details of the deal.

VCCircle had first reported in September last year that both the companies were in talks for a deal.

Now, TechCircle learns that Rapido, run by Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd, is in talks with various investors for its next round of fundraising.

Sanka said Getbike has a lot of expertise in B2B logistics and that Reddy will be leading its overall B2B initiative. Rapido also wants to get into on-demand logistics of goods like food and medicine, Sanka said.

Rapido was founded by IIT graduates Sanka, Rishikesh SR and Pavan Guntupalli in November 2015. The company operates in Bengaluru and Delhi. In 2017, it raised $750,000 from investors including Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal, Google India managing director Rajan Anandan and Astarc Ventures, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle.

Getbike, formerly known as Getmi, is run by Vave Infosolutions India Pvt. Ltd. It was launched in September 2016 by Reddy, who previously worked with Reliance Communications and Apalya Technologies.

In December 2016, Getbike raised $100,000 in angel funding from investors including Vamshi Reddy B, co-founder of Apalya Technologies, and Venu Veeramaneni.

Getbike began as a bike taxi operator for both individual commuters and corporate clients in 2015. However, it later shifted its focus to the B2B sector. Currently, the startup offers services to a number of clients from industries such as pharmaceuticals, food and e-commerce. It has tied up with Apollo Hospitals, online marketing platform Limetray and L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd, among others.

In the past two years, dozens of bike taxi startups sprang up across states but many shut down due to lack of funding, operational challenges and regulatory hurdles. Cab-hailing firms Ola and Uber also offer bike services in some cities.

In a recent funding development, Delhi-NCR-based bike taxi startup Bikxie raised Rs 2 crore from GEMs Partners, a micro venture capital fund, and Sachin Khandelwal, a former CEO at non-bank lender Magma Fincorp, four months ago.

*This article has been updated to correct the descriptor for Rapido.