Mobile and Cloud based ride sharing solution provider Ridingo was rated as one of the ‘Hottest Startups’ in 2013 by Forbes. Ridingo was part of ‘Nasscom 10000 Startups’ Programme supported by Google, Microsoft, Verisign, Kotak and Intel to scale up startup ecosystem in India. It was included in the 2013 Karnataka MobileOne programme.
Ridingo car-pooling community is 10,000 strong, and was founded by Vardhan Koshal and Srivatsan Mohan. Rajiv Vij, MD and CEO, CIPL believes that over the years, biggest opportunities in ground transportation industry would be in the shared economy. Carzonrent is keen to invest in technology, infra and people to best use available resources and cars to deliver cost benefits to owners and passengers. Ridingo founders will lead Carzonrent efforts in the ride sharing market.
Vardhan Koshal, Co-founder Ridingo is thrilled to be associated with Carzonrent. Car sharing at the company has a strict entry registration barrier, limited to professionals working in reputed companies and/or well connected on LinkedIn. Ridingo verifies listed employer by asking an applicant for an official email address as part of registration. CIPL self-drive car sharing programme, Myles was introduced in 2013, and caters to over 60000 individual travelers. Growth plans include a 100,000 car fleet for car sharing business over 250 Indian cities. Revenue is projected at Rs 6000 crores in the next 5 years. Indian cab industry is estimated at INR 54000 crore. Of this 8-10 pct is organised. Car- pooling/ car sharing/ ride sharing opportunities in shared economy are a focus area.
Last week, app-based taxi aggregator, Ola Cabs said it has raised $400 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) in an investment round led by DST Global. Expansion includes business in smaller cities in India where organised cab operators are few in number. In all, Ola has raised about $800 million. The last fund infusion came in October 2014 when $210 million was raised.
Funds will be used to reach more cities, improve tech base, and increase cab driver base. In a year. Ola Cabs has gone from 10 cities to 100. Growth acceleration has also been spurred by its acquisition of TaxiForSure in March 2015. Building personal transportation ground-up is smaller cities is a focus area. The company reports growth in tier 2 and 3 cities where transportation options are limited. Alongwith State Bank of India, Ola Pragati has been rolled out for daily loan repayment facility for driver entrepreneurs. OlaCaf trials are concentrated on food delivery.
