Ride-hailing company Rapido aims to enter the carpooling segment with the launch of its new app, Hopr, housed under Flexiride Solutions Pvt—a separate parent entity headed by Rapido executives—the company’s public filings showed.
The new entity’s directors include Rapido’s Vice President—Finance, Vivek Krishna, and Akash Sachdev, who is heading new initiatives at Rapido.
This move will put Rapido in direct competition with Bengaluru-based ride-hailing company Quick Ride.
According to its listing on the App Store, Hopr is a car and bikepooling app for professionals that allows car or bike owners to offset fuel costs and offers commuters access to individuals living near them whose offices are on the same travel route.
At the time of writing this story, YourStory verified that the app is currently live only in Bengaluru and boasts about 6,500 active users, despite having only a few downloads on the App Store.
The move comes as Rapido looks to expand its product offerings in the food delivery space, as well as by setting up a separate fintech arm, as YourStory had previously reported. This will be the third consumer app from Rapido, following the launch of its food delivery app Ownly in Bengaluru. A “house of apps” approach could help the Prosus-backed company command a better valuation, a person associated with Rapido said.
Rapido did not respond to YourStory’s request for comment at the time of publishing the article.
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According to an industry executive, the reason Rapido has set up a separate company and an app for this business is likely due to regulatory reasons in cities like Bengaluru.
Amidst the recent ban on bike taxis in the state, carpooling has become a viable and cost-effective option for working professionals and students.
This has led to the rising adoption of services offered by companies like QuickRide and GoPool, which operate yellow-board commercial vehicles to help passengers on similar routes travel together.
Despite increasing adoption of carpooling in Bengaluru, the city’s transport department is yet to frame a dedicated carpooling policy. The situation echoes the recent ban on bike taxis—a move that has affected Rapido, which traces its origin to a bike taxi company.
Amidst this backdrop, Hopr’s bikepooling service may be a silver lining for Rapido and its fleet of two-wheelers in the city that can no longer operate. While bike taxis are commercial in nature, bikepooling is more of an economical service, allowing commuters to share fuel expenses rather than paying for the service.
Recently, the Bengaluru-based company entered the shared mobility space, joining peers Namma Yatri and Uber, to launch metro ticketing options on its platform.
Rapido’s cap table is also set for a shake-up, with major investor Swiggy looking to offload its 12% stake after the ride-hailing firm ventured into food delivery. Swiggy is reportedly seeking around $300 million from the sale of its Rapido stake, which would value the ride-hailing firm at roughly $2.7-3 billion.
Edited by Suman Singh
