Ride on cue: Guntupalli on Rapido's no-frills route to rapid scale

Guntupalli tells how a no-frills strategy, zero-commission model, and intimate knowledge of India's diversity have enabled Rapido to become one of the country's biggest ride-hailing companies

On a humid Bengaluru afternoon, Pavan Guntupalli makes an unusual choice for a founder whose company handles five million rides daily: He walks. The 34-year-old cofounder of Rapido, India’s largest bike-taxi platform, strides through Bellandur — a village turned tech hub — to reach Biergarten restaurant near his office. Most days, he’s tapping through his app or apps of competitors like Uber and Ola, deliberately subjecting himself to Bengaluru’s notorious traffic. Today’s walk is part of the same philosophy: Understand the customer’s reality.

  He arrives in a light purple blazer and Nike Air Jordan sneakers, quickly scanning for a quieter spot in the lush, plant-filled space. “I don’t own a car, so ride-sharing is my primary mode of commute,” he says. He once rode a Bajaj 125cc motorcycle as a Rapido captain (driver) during the company’s early days — until it was stolen. 

  “I eventually became a customer instead,” he laughs. 

This hands-on approach isn’t mere founder theatre. It represents the strategy that has allowed Rapido to quietly become what Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi recently called its toughest competitor in India — edging out the better-known Ola.  

While Uber and Ola battle for India’s metros, Rapido has penetrated 400 cities, reaching deep into Tier-III and -IV towns where it’s often the only transport option. The company now draws 30 million monthly active users and counts three million active captains, making it among India’s biggest gig-economy employers. It has created nine million jobs to date, with over one million captains active daily. 

The secret weapon? A zero-commission model and intimate knowledge of India’s diversity — from problems of inconsistent place names to varying literacy levels — that Guntupalli and his team gain by constantly experiencing the service themselves. As we settle in and order caesar and panzanella salads, the question hangs: Can this ground-up approach withstand competition from a company like Uber? 

But before we get to the answer, he speaks about his stint with Samsung in South Korea, his first trip abroad, which shaped his views on quality of life and transport, nudging him towards entrepreneurship. 

  Guntupalli grew up in Hyderabad, finished high school in Vijayawada, and studied electronics and communication at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His siblings pursued medicine — one is a dentist in the US, the other an MD radiologist. A college reading of a Dhirubhai Ambani biography convinced him that a single individual can move a nation, spurring him towards business.  He left Samsung without a backup plan, cycling through multiple failed ventures — from real estate to Guntur chilli exports — before arriving at Rapido. He learned risk-taking from his businessman father and patience from his homemaker mother.

Guntupalli recalls reuniting with Rishikesh SR, his colleague from a prior payments venture, and Aravind Sanka, a friend of 20 years, to launch Rapido in 2015. Their goal: To ease India’s daily commute with a faster, affordable bike-taxi service. 

This happened after an earlier last-mile logistics platform called theKarrier failed to scale. Guntupalli and his team made a deliberate pivot. They decided to build something with broader reach, shifting direction in mid-September 2015, and launching Rapido less than a month later in Bengaluru. The company’s first 50 captains included about 20 team members — founders and sales staff riding themselves. Even as a small startup, Rapido made insurance mandatory for both riders and customers, and introduced safety features such as an SOS button and a dedicated emergency support line. 

The team initially feared dust, pollution, and safety concerns would deter riders. Instead, women were the early adopters, viewing Rapido as a cheaper, more reliable alternative to crowded buses, packed autos, and unpredictable fares. Their willingness to use the service — especially for safer late-night travel in smaller cities — proved a pivotal validation, which he describes as both historic and motivating. 

As we savour the tuscan-soaked bread, fresh tomatoes, olives, bocconcini, parmesan, and garlic croutons, Guntupalli speaks of his fondness for fresh fruit snacks, a habit he picked up in Korea, where fruit is commonly eaten between meals and after dinner, besides on its own. 

His company’s services now span bike-taxis, autorickshaws, local parcel delivery, and corporate mobility, with an edge from lower costs and deep reach in smaller cities. Rapido has raised a total funding of about $574 million from investors, including WestBridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Shell Ventures, and Swiggy. It has achieved a valuation of around $2.3 billion, according to data platform Tracxn. 

I go back to my question about Khosrowshahi’s statement: How would Rapido compete with a company that commands near-infinite capital and global scale. “It (Khosrowshahi’s statement) made us realise we need to be more dedicated and responsible, now that we’ve reached scale,” he says. “We were naive and focused on impact when we started — that was an advantage.”

A hands-on approach, he says, is what gives Rapido an edge in understanding Indian users more deeply than large, global competitors. The platform is tailored to user and captain lifestyles, offering features like location-based ride preferences, and has experimented with models such as zero-commission after field research with thousands of drivers. 

Under this model, captains pay a small daily login fee — typically ~10-20 — to access demand and the platform’s technology. The company takes no cut of what customers pay captains. By acting as a lead-generation platform without heavy incentives or discounts, Rapido covers its fixed costs, and remains operationally profitable. 

“We are not burning cash,” he says. “Profitability varies by category, but the zero-commission, SaaS (software as a 

service) approach, and controlled cost structure keep us sustainable.” 

In the financial year ended March 2024, Rapido logged a 46.3 per cent jump in revenue, reaching ~648 crore. It also narrowed its losses by 45 per cent to ~371 crore, a shift it credits to tighter cost controls.

  So, is it time for an initial public offering (IPO)? Guntupalli says that is not a target with a fixed timeline; the company will pursue it when the timing is right.  Scaling, meanwhile, hasn’t been frictionless. Rapido has faced captain protests and regulatory crackdowns, including bans on app-based bike taxis in some states. 

Regulatory actions, Guntupalli says, directly hit drivers’ livelihoods. The company, he adds, moves quickly to offer financial and legal support when disputes arise. He acknowledges that building a new category brings friction, but says Rapido’s strategy is to work with state governments, correct misinformation, and focus on practical fixes. He points to emerging policies in major states — including New Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh — as evidence that the regulatory landscape is beginning to take shape.  

“We now have working policies where previously there were none, which shows progress,” he says. “We work 

with governments to explain safety measures, the social impact, and to find practical solutions.” 

Technology provides another edge. Rapido uses machine-learning models to pair riders with captains, suggest routes that balance driver earnings with customer pricing, and drive a steady stream of product tweaks. The product team effectively doubles as an artificial intelligence unit, treating the technology as a core lever for improvements. Current priorities include voice-based booking aimed at users in smaller towns, optical character recognition, and vision tools to streamline WhatsApp onboarding.  

These also include other accessibility features designed to lower adoption barriers for hundreds of millions of potential customers.All of this is aimed at tiding over challenges such as inconsistent local place names, map inaccuracies, and varying levels of literacy and app comfort.  

Guntupalli notes that today, in many small towns and during late-night hours, Rapido is often the only available transport option. More than 40 per cent of Rapido’s revenue now comes from Tier-II and -III towns, compared with 15-20 per cent for many tech firms, making the “long tail” central to its business. 

The company is also pushing ahead on electrification. It is working with electric vehicle makers and finance partners to help captains shift to electric bikes rather than building an owned fleet. 

Onboarding is streamlined — often through WhatsApp — with document checks, background screening, and basic training. The firm tracks driving behaviour and feedback throughout a captain’s tenure. This is supported by safety features such as route-deviation alerts, late-night check-ins, and an SOS option. 

The company also builds tools around captains’ routines. This includes timing and geofence preferences, parcel-delivery options, and tie-ups with food partners. 

“During Covid-19, a captain in Assam lost her husband and became the family breadwinner; she used Rapido to earn, and even supported her daughter studying at Cambridge University,” says Guntupalli, adding that stories such as these highlight the human impact they aim for. 

Building Rapido over a decade has also come with personal sacrifices: “I’ve missed family events — even my brother’s wedding because of investor meetings. That’s hard.” 

Reflecting on advice to his younger self, he says better preparation would help, but he might not have embarked on the journey knowing all the challenges. For aspiring entrepreneurs, he says, it is about mastering the balance between sacrifice and impact, noting that despite few regrets, the scale of the impact makes it worthwhile. 

A former sprinter, he now tries to find time to play football and racket sports, and study Korean, Chinese, and Kannada. 

As lunch wraps up, and Guntupalli prepares to hop on a bike-taxi to go to work, I ask him what Rapido might look like in 2035, if it exceeds expectations, and whether he would still be leading it.  

“Our vision is empowering billions of lives to move ahead every day,” he says. The company would experiment across transport, logistics, and financial services, without confining itself to categories. And yes, he would continue to lead the team: “We'll continue to stay close to the ground and build for Bharat.”