Rapido is targeting 50 lakh active drivers or captains by FY27 as it doubles down on its zero-commission SaaS model, shifting revenue from per-ride commissions to fixed subscriptions paid by drivers nationwide, said Pavan Guntupalli, co-founder of the company, to TNIE.
Rapido currently has around 30 lakh active captains every month across the country and expects this to rise sharply over the next financial year.
“Now, as of today, we have around 3 million, which is 30 lakh captains active every single month. And we expect it to reach to 50 lakh captains by this financial year FY27,” he said.
Speaking about the company’s business model, Guntupalli said Rapido has moved away from the traditional commission-based ride aggregation model and now operates as a software-as-a-service platform for driver partners, whom the company refers to as captains.
“At first, we were a ride sharing, ride aggregator platform. But in 2023, Rapido being one of the first companies to make a major move in changing our entire business model, from a commission ride aggregator platform to becoming a zero commission SaaS platform,” he said.
He added that under the revised model, the company’s revenues are no longer linked to a percentage of drivers’ earnings or per-ride commissions. Instead, captains pay a fixed daily fee to access the platform and its technology tools.
“Each captain pays a fixed amount of let’s say 19 rupees or 29 rupees per day. And that is how our income is generated for Rapido,” Guntupalli said.
Guntupalli said the company now tracks the number of captains on its platform more closely than conventional revenue metrics.
“One of the major things that we keep focusing on is number of captains we have on our system,” he said.
He said the shift to the zero-commission structure has also helped reduce costs for the company by lowering spending on incentives previously used to attract drivers.
“Earlier, this industry was plagued by commissions… to the extent of 25-30% that some of the players used to take,” he said.
He added that once the commission was removed, more drivers began joining the platform voluntarily.
“Now, we do not spend on captains to come and join, they themselves come, wanting to join our platform. That has definitely reduced our expenses as well,” he said.
Guntupalli said the company has also seen strong participation across vehicle categories, including bikes, autos and cabs, with growth particularly driven by smaller cities where two-wheelers have wider penetration.