How Rapido Automated Accounts Payable at Scale with Finnoto ?

About Rapido

The Challenge

The Solution

The Results

Business Impact

80%

Reduction in Manual Effort

95%

Faster Vendor Payments

100%

⁠Vendor Compliance Digitized

ABOUT RAPIDO

Rapido, founded in 2015, has emerged as India’s largest bike taxi platform, redefining how millions of Indians commute every day. Operating in 120+ cities, Rapido has completed over 100 crore rides and empowered 1.4+ crore captains (driver-partners), creating one of the country’s largest gig-economy ecosystems. Beyond bike taxis, Rapido has expanded its offerings to include auto-rickshaw and cab services, becoming a comprehensive solution for affordable, fast, and reliable last-mile connectivity. Its technology-first approach has not only eased urban congestion but also unlocked livelihood opportunities for millions. This case study explores how Rapido scaled its operations, optimized its finance processes, and leveraged automation to maintain control, compliance, and efficiency while growing at breakneck speed.

THE CHALLENGES

Rapido’s AP processes were under strain as their previous tool failed to keep pace with business growth

The AP team experienced inefficiencies that created downstream impact on cash flow visibility, compliance, and month-end closure timelines. To highlight the gaps clearly, we have captured the most pressing challenges faced by the team below

1. Manual & Error-Prone Data Ingestion

No Intelligent Invoice Capture : The previous product could not read invoices directly from emails or vendor portals. Every single invoice had to be downloaded, opened, and typed into the system manually — wasting hours every day.

High Dependency on Ops Teams : Because data entry was manual, any spike in invoice volume (like month-end) meant teams had to work overtime or face backlog — delaying approvals and payments.

2. Rigid Approval Flows & Lack of Configurability

One-Size-Fits-All Workflows : The tool had a fixed approval flow that didn’t reflect Rapido’s complex org structure, where some invoices needed multiple levels of approval and others needed fewer.

Email-Based Approvals : Approvals were happening over email, with no centralized tracker. Finance teams had to manually follow up with stakeholders to get pending approvals, creating delays.

No Exception Handling : Urgent payments (e.g., marketing campaign payments, rider payouts) required manual escalation outside the system, increasing the chance of errors and missed audit trails.

3. Limited Reporting & Visibility

Fragmented Payables Visibility : CFOs and finance leaders lacked a single source of truth for liabilities. Tracking due dates and cash outflows across multiple entities required manual effort and led to poor working capital forecasting.

Manual Vendor Compliance Tracking : Vendor KYC documents and GST details were maintained in spreadsheets and shared folders. Compliance checks were prone to human error, and document expiry often went unnoticed, creating audit and regulatory risks.

Excel-Heavy Reporting : Finance teams had to download raw data and manually prepare reports for aging, vendor spend, and entity-wise payables. This was time-consuming, error-prone, and delayed decision-making.

THE SOLUTION : How Finnoto Solved It ?

From Manual Chaos to Automated Control – How Finnoto Transformed Rapido’s AP Operations

1. Automated Data Ingestion

AI-Powered Invoice Capture : Finnoto reads invoices from multiple sources (emails, shared drives, vendor portals) and extracts data automatically using OCR and AI models, removing manual typing.

Smart Validations : Every invoice goes through a series of checks (duplicate detection, GST/TDS validation, PO matching) before being posted, preventing errors from entering the books.

Scalable to High Volumes : Whether Rapido processes 1,000 invoices or 100,000 per day, the ingestion process works with zero manual effort and without increasing headcount.

2. Flexible, Rule-Based Approval Flows

Configurable, Role-Based Workflows : Finnoto enabled dynamic approval routing based on invoice type, value, and department. This allowed Rapido to mirror its complex org structure with multi-level or single-click approvals as needed.

Centralized, Digital Approvals : All approvals moved from email to a single, trackable dashboard. Stakeholders received automated reminders, and finance teams gained real-time visibility into approval status—eliminating manual follow-ups.

Built-In Exception Handling : Urgent payments were handled through priority workflows with proper audit trails. Finance could process time-sensitive payments without bypassing compliance controls, reducing errors and improving audit readiness.

3. Real-Time Visibility & Compliance

Unified Payables Dashboard : The CFO gets a live view of all liabilities, upcoming due dates, and cash outflows across multiple entities — enabling better working capital planning.

Automated Vendor Compliance : Finnoto stores and tracks vendor documents digitally, auto-validates GST numbers with government portals, and sends reminders for expiring documents — eliminating compliance risk.

Self-Service Reports : Finance teams can generate aging reports, vendor-wise spending analysis, or entity-wise payable reports instantly, without downloading data and doing manual Excel work.

The RESULTS : Finnoto delivers efficiency

Metric	Before Finoto	After Finoto
Invoice processing time	~12 mins/invoice	< 1 min
Manual spreadsheet use	50%	Eliminated
MSME compliance tracking	Manual	Automated
Payment reconciliation time	2–3 days	Real-time
Approval delays	Undefined TATs	Dedicated TAT reports
Audit readiness	Manual collation	Fully automated

BUSINESS IMPACT

✅ Tighter Financial Controls

Built-in compliance checks, MSME tagging, and violation alerts ensure that every transaction is auditable and policy-aligned.

✅ Invoice Processing Time Reduced by 85%

What earlier took ~12 minutes per invoice is now completed in under 2 minutes—allowing the same team to handle significantly higher volumes without added manpower.

✅ Department-Wise Visibility & SLA Tracking

Finance gained real-time visibility into invoice status across departments, improving SLA adherence and reducing approval bottlenecks.

✅ Automated Vendor Compliance Management

From GST status to MSME classification and bank verification, vendor onboarding is now automated and error-free.

✅ Integrated & Controlled Payments

With ICICI Bank integration, Rapido can now execute payments through NEFT/RTGS/IMPS within predefined approval workflows—boosting security and speed.

✅ Always Audit-Ready

Every approval, rejection, and change is logged with full audit trails, ensuring instant readiness for internal or external audits.