The company is also betting that lower ticket sizes will help expand the food delivery market rather than merely taking share from incumbents
| Photo Credit:
Rajmohan S _12122@Chennai
Rapido’s food delivery platform Ownly is set to expand to Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai over the next quarter, as the company looks to scale its zero-commission model beyond Bengaluru, according to people aware of the plans.The expansion comes four months after Ownly’s commercial launch in Bengaluru and marks Rapido’s biggest push yet to challenge the duopoly of Swiggy and Eternal-owned Zomato.Without confirming the names of the cities, Rapido cofounder and CEO Aravind Sanka said the company is preparing for launches over the next quarter, buoyed by early traction in Bengaluru.“The numbers are giving us confidence to think about expansion. We’ll start launching in other cities from the next quarter,” said Rapido co-founder and CEO Aravind SankaOwnly has built its proposition around a subscription-based model for restaurants instead of charging commissions on every order. The company is now aggressively expanding its merchant network ahead of its multi-city rollout.Sanka said Ownly has onboarded around 25,000 restaurants in Bengaluru and is targeting 50,000 restaurants, which would cover roughly half of the city’s restaurant base.“We’ve onboarded about 25,000 restaurants in Bengaluru. Our next milestone is 50,000 because we believe selection is critical. Eventually, we want to cover at least half the restaurants in the city,” he said.The company is also betting that lower ticket sizes will help expand the food delivery market rather than merely taking share from incumbents.Ownly’s average order value (AOV) is currently around 60 per cent of the industry average, a deliberate strategy aimed at attracting first-time online food ordering customers.“If our order values are similar to existing platforms, we’re not creating a new market. Our goal is to bring new users online by making food delivery more affordable while delivering a reliable experience,” Sanka said, adding that repeat orders have been “really good” so far.The company is continuing to subsidise delivery charges as it builds scale. Sanka said Ownly does not want to pass on high logistics costs to customers before its operations become more efficient.It has also moved away from onboarding restaurants through Magicpin and is now signing merchants directly, with integrations for several national restaurant chains underway.Earlier this month, Ownly was integrated into the main Rapido app, giving it access to Rapido’s large ride-hailing user base. The company expects the super-app integration to become a key customer acquisition channel while continuing to operate the standalone Ownly app.Published on July 29, 2026
