Accel is taking a new slice of Rapido, and Prosus has also bought additional stake after purchasing the ride-hailing startup’s holdings from TVS Motor. The secondary transaction gives TVS Motor a profit of more than 152% in roughly three years and reflects renewed investor confidence in India’s two- and three-wheeler-led mobility space.
Deal Mechanics and Cap Table Manipulations
TVS Motor sold its entire holding in Rapido to Accel and Prosus’ investment arm MIH Investments, according to a stock exchange filing made by the company. Each investor invested about ₹1.44 billion (about $16 million) in the buyout, with Accel buying 11,997 preference shares and Prosus picking up 11,988 preference shares and 10 equity shares.
TVS Motor had first invested in April 2022 as part of Rapido’s $180 million Series D round, which also saw participation from WestBridge Capital, Shell Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. The exit at its ₹11.4 billion entry price comes to about a 2.5x multiple, a great result in late-stage consumer tech for just a three-year window. As to the precise valuation implied by the secondary, it was not shared; however, the transaction brings Rapido’s investor base closer to longer-horizon venture capital holders in a moment when mobility-focused platforms are looking to prove out their own unit economics.
Why Rapido Wins Late-Stage Capital From VCs
Rapido, founded in 2015, initially gained popularity as a bike taxi provider before it moved into auto-rickshaw and car rides and courier services. It has also experimented with food-delivery service in a few cities — an adjacent, high-frequency use case that is complementary to and can blur competitive overlaps across investor portfolios.
Accel and Prosus are early backers of Swiggy, which earlier exited its stake in Rapido on the expected conflict as Rapido was expanding its presence into food delivery. This context makes the latest move noteworthy: it (further) confirms our thesis that Rapido’s core mobility marketplace, drawing demand especially from two- and three-wheeler segments, still has meaningful growth headroom and operational leverage without food logistics. Prosus, meanwhile, has historically bet on category leaders in daily-use marketplaces; Accel’s India portfolio includes consumer internet brands that scaled on frequency and trust — characteristics Rapido has been focusing on for mass-market, price-sensitive segments.
Competition and the Regulatory Backdrop in India
Rapido predominantly competes with Uber, Ola and inDrive along India’s dense urban corridors. What stands out is affordability and faster first-mile options, especially for sub-5 km commutes where two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws can outpace cars on time — and cost. Policy studies by NITI Aayog and other urban mobility organizations have repeatedly highlighted the disproportionate role two-wheelers play in our cities, and this has been a structural advantage for platforms designed domestically from day one to cater to that format.
The regulatory backdrop, however, has been in flux. Bike taxis have in some states been at times restricted or reclassified, causing platforms to adjust city by city. Today’s investment vote of confidence from Accel and Prosus suggests that compliance pathways — often involving electrification, safety standards and systems for thorough driver onboarding — are continuing to harden. For Rapido, bringing riders slowly into autos and cars alongside bikes provides a hedge against policy seesawing while leveraging the company’s low-cost pitch.
From the demand side, inflation-conscious riders have been trading down to two-wheelers (as part of peak pricing), while drivers aim for more utilization and less idling time. These trends lend themselves to marketplaces capable of striking the right take rate-incentive-multi-category-supply balance without squeezing margins thin. Rapido’s multi-modal blend puts it in a place to iron out choppiness across demand curves and cities.
What the TVS Exit Says About Rapido’s Prospects
TVS Motor’s clean exit with a triple-digit return feels like classic portfolio rebalancing after a strategic foray into mobility marketplaces. For Rapido, adding yet another blue-chip VC and deepening the reach of an existing one can streamline governance as well as set good pricing reference points ahead of a future primary raise in order to avoid the latter’s scope from being hijacked by greedy insiders.
The deal also underscores investors’ appetite for “value-for-money” internet businesses that monetize high-frequency behavior. If Rapido can keep improving the stability of drivers’ earnings, accelerate electric-two-wheeler adoption with its partners and hold the line on customer-acquisition costs, then the path to stronger contribution margins looks clearer — even without packing rides with overaggressive fare hikes.
The Road Ahead for Rapido After Secondary Deal
What to watch for now are Rapido’s expansion speed in auto-rickshaws and cars, headway on food-delivery pilots and how regulatory regimes for bike taxis play out across key metros. Whether today’s secondary deal serves as a stepping stone to further growth financing will depend on the company being able to sustain its on-time performance while expanding categories.
For Accel and Prosus, doubling down on a mass-market mobility operator in India is a bet that everyday transportation — small-ticket, frequent and hyperlocal — will continue to compound as cities densify. With the cap table reset and new validation from marquee investors in place, Rapido now has the mandate — as well as pressure — to turn that scale into sustainable profitability.
