Swiggy-Backed Rapido Eyes Food Delivery, Discusses Commission Models With Restaurants

Ride-hailing platform Rapido is said to be meeting restaurateurs across India, as it eyes adding direct-to-consumer food delivery services to its application.

The Swiggy-backed bike taxi operator's discussions with restaurants, which are in preliminary stages, are focusing on commission models and feasibility of delivery operations, people aware of the development told NDTV Profit.

While no plan is concretised yet, Rapido's D2C food delivery model will likely be piloted in a metro city like Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, the people said on conditions of anonymity.

In 2023, Rapido had raised $180 million in a Series D round of funding led by Swiggy. "Swiggy's participation in this round will build on the synergies between the two companies," it had said. However, this investment lacked an exclusivity clause that could have restricted Rapido's D2C food delivery push, according to people in the know.

To put this into perspective, Rapido's business-to-business logistics arm already offers food delivery services to Swiggy and the Open Network for Digital Commerce.

Rapido's apparent foray into the D2C delivery space comes at a time when Zomato and Swiggy have a comfortable duopoly in the market. Restaurants have previously raised concerns over commission models and margins, which is what Rapido's strategy seems to be focusing on.

Neither Swiggy nor Rapido could immediately be reached for comments on the development.