India’s Rapido begins testing food delivery to take on Swiggy, Zomato

Rapido, the popular ride-hailing platform in India, has officially taken its first big step into the food delivery market. The company has launched beta testing of its new service, Ownly, in Bengaluru. To start with, Rapido is focusing on three key localities — Byrasandra, Tavarekere & Madiwala (BTM Layout), Hosur Sarjapura Road (HSR Layout), and Koramangala.

To run this venture, Rapido created a wholly owned subsidiary called Ctrlx Technologies, with co-founder and CEO Aravind Sanka and vice president of finance Vivek Krishna as directors. While Sanka explained that there was no specific reason for forming the subsidiary, this move also helps Rapido navigate potential conflicts with Swiggy — a company that holds a 12% minority stake in Rapido.

In fact, Swiggy recently told its shareholders that it will review its investment in Rapido due to the possible conflict of interest. Despite this, Rapido is pushing ahead with its plans. Notably, Ownly’s Android app is already available on Google Play, offering food from nearby restaurants at about 15% lower prices compared to Swiggy and Zomato.

With this bold entry, Rapido is clearly setting the stage to challenge India’s food delivery giants while also creating more choices for consumers.

Rapido is shaking up food delivery pricing with a bold strategy. Instead of charging restaurants commissions of up to 30% — the norm for platforms like Swiggy and Zomato — Rapido has adopted a fixed-fee-per-order model. This approach, first outlined in a proposal to restaurants in June, enables the company to offer meals at prices roughly 15% lower than its rivals.

With a nationwide fleet of about 10 million vehicles, including 5 to 6 million two-wheelers, Rapido is now putting its bikes to work for food deliveries, alongside its taxi and courier services. To keep costs low and deliveries quick, the company plans to hide restaurants located far from customers, reducing fuel expenses and delivery times. At the same time, it will curate menu items to maximize margins while still offering enough variety for discovery.

Rapido has another advantage: data intelligence. While fulfilling deliveries for Swiggy, it gathered valuable insights into peak hours and high-demand restaurants. Now, the company is leveraging this data to fine-tune its Ownly service. Interestingly, its agreement with Swiggy does not restrict using this data — it only prevents Rapido from signing contracts with Zomato or other direct competitors.

Founded in 2015 as a bike taxi aggregator, Rapido has steadily expanded into auto rickshaws, parcel delivery, and third-party logistics. In 2023, it entered the cab market to compete with Uber and Ola, using a subscription-based pricing model as an alternative to the industry’s commission-heavy approach. The company even partnered with Taiwanese electric two-wheeler maker Gogoro to deploy battery-swapping e-bikes as taxis. These moves helped Rapido boost its valuation and achieve unicorn status last year.

The timing could not be better. India’s online food delivery market is projected to surpass ₹2 trillion ($23 billion) by 2030, according to a joint report by Bain & Company and Swiggy. Currently, Zomato dominates with a 58% share, while Swiggy holds the other 42%. Uber tried its luck in the sector with Uber Eats but exited in 2020 by selling the business to Zomato.

So far, Rapido has raised $574 million across 13 funding rounds. Today, it operates in over 250 cities and handles 3.5 million rides daily, backed by major investors such as Prosus, WestBridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Think Investments. With Ownly, Rapido is making it clear — it’s ready to be more than just a ride-hailing giant.