TVS Motor Company partners with Rapido

CHENNAI: Two and three-wheeler major TVS Motor Company has announced a strategic partnership with Rapido, a bike-taxi platform. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday. As part of the MoU, TVS and Rapido will leverage their synergies in the mobility market.
"The hyperlocal mobility segments bike-taxi, auto-taxi, and delivery now represent a $15 billion opportunity," the companies said in a statement.
"This partnership will cover both two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles and extend across ICE and EV segments."
Sudarshan Venu, joint MD TVS Motor, said: "We have been focused on EVs and future mobility. Rapido has built a strong user base of Captains and Riders and is the leading bike-taxi platform in India today. We can expand our reach in the mobility and hyper-local segments using high-quality, connected products from the TVS Electric portfolio and financing from our group. TVS Motor, TVS Credit and Rapido can be long term strategic partners as this ecosystem matures further,” he added.
“Rapido has envisaged plugging first and last-mile daily commuting gaps in India, not just in metros, but beyond in tier 2 and 3, as well. This partnership is an extension of our vision and will bring us a step closer to our goals. This association will help us strengthen our capabilities and expand our electric bikes fleet,” said Aravind Sanka, co-founder, Rapido.
This MoU is in line with TVS's plans of expanding its electric product portfolio across 5-25kW two and three-wheelers. All of them will be launched by mid-2023. TVS Motor aims to have electric vehicles across segments like delivery, commuter premium, high-performance sports, and electric three-wheelers while expanding the presence of TVS iQube Electric across all major cities in India.