Rapido’s growth story has handed one of its earliest backers a windfall. Delhi-based venture investor Advantedge has recorded a striking 30 times return on the capital it originally put into the mobility platform, after completing a significant partial exit. The firm first invested in Rapido during its seed round in 2016, writing a cheque of roughly 2.5 to 3 million dollars. Its recent sale, valued at about 28 million dollars, comes as Rapido moves toward closing a 550 million dollar fundraising round led by Prosus and WestBridge Capital.
Even after the sale, Advantedge continues to hold a substantial position in the company. Its remaining stake is valued between 60 and 65 million dollars, giving the fund one of the strongest performances in its portfolio. Founder Kunal Khattar said the overall outcome from Rapido, including the unrealised gains, has pushed the total multiple on invested capital from this single bet to 30 times.
Rapido’s success significantly lifted the performance of Advantedge’s first fund, which was launched in 2015 with a corpus of 10 to 11 million dollars. The fund has now delivered about 30 million dollars back to its limited partners, translating to a distribution-to-paid-in ratio of three times and total returns of 11.5 times on invested capital across all portfolio moves. The first fund is on track to be closed within the next year, with only a few positions left to exit.
Beyond Rapido, Advantedge notched earlier exits through its stakes in Wigzo, which was bought by Shiprocket in 2022 for 25 million dollars, and iimjobs.com, acquired by Info Edge in 2019 for 12 million dollars. Rapido, however, remains its standout performer, delivering an internal rate of return of 67 percent and a 111 times multiple on the earliest tranche of capital.
The firm, backed by the family offices of Motherson and the Hero group, has already deployed its 30 million dollar second fund and is now raising a third, targeting a 60 million dollar corpus. With the new fund, Advantedge plans to double down on early-stage mobility and infrastructure bets, writing cheques in the half-million to 1.5 million dollar range while continuing to support winners from its existing portfolio.
