The Bengaluru-based company’s losses rose 2.6 times to Rs 439 crore from Rs 166 crore as it hired more employees and spent more on marketing after the pandemic.
“During the year the company increased its marketing campaigns and expanded employee strength to fuel the growth post the Covid year. This led to an increase in total expenditure from Rs 254 crore to Rs 596 crore,” the company said in its financials.
Employee benefit costs rose 73% to Rs 106 crore from Rs 61 crore in FY21. Advertisement and promotion expenses jumped five times to Rs 176 crore from Rs 33 crore in FY21. Rapido primarily earns money by charging commissions on rides.
Post-pandemic, Rapido has been increasingly expanding into the three-wheeler category, challenging the duopoly of SoftBank-backed Ola and Uber.
The company also has a business-to-business (B2B) vertical in which it routes drivers for food and grocery delivery companies like Swiggy and Zomato. In April, it received a $180 million investment from Swiggy and TVS Motor.
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Lately, the company has been facing increasing scrutiny from local state governments over a lack of licences to aggregate both bikes and auto taxis. Rapido has been in the legal crosshairs related to its bike taxi services in several states, as taxis require yellow number plates to operate legally in india.
Bike owners in India typically have regular (white) number plates, which do not permit the driver to ferry passengers in return for cash.
The Bombay High Court on January 20 rejected Rapido’s appeal against a Maharashtra government order denying it a licence to operate bike taxis in the state.
The company has also been facing challenges in Karnataka, along with Uber and Ola, over inflated fares.
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