DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

Mumbai, April 18, 2012:

Olacabs.com, India’s first aggregator of car rentals and point-to-point cab services, has received its Series A funding from Tiger Global Management, a New York-based investment firm with investments in leading consumer internet companies in India. Olacabs will use the funds to scale up operations nationally and further strengthen its technology platform.

Olacabs, was founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, who identified the opportunity for disruption in an industry that is fragmented and barely technology efficient. The shortage of easy and comfortable on-ground options for transport, within a city or outside, is still a huge need gap for millions of Indians. Olacabs integrates car transportation, be it point-to-point services within a city, hour-based rental services or outstation travel, onto a technology platform, ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfilment for the customer. Customers can access Olacabs, on the web, through a mobile app or through a customer service centre.  Currently, Olacabs operates over 700 cabs in Mumbai and with a view of expanding its services to ten Indian cities in a year’s time.

On the supply side, Olacabs does not own or operate its own fleet, but aggregates small fleet operators and single vehicle owners. The inventory utilisation among small cab operators (ownership of 1-3 cabs) in India is an abysmal 40-50%. Cab owners benefit from the Olacabs network and technology platform and that in turn helps them procure customers and enhance their income through better inventory utilisation. In Mumbai, inventory utilisation levels have gone up to 70% for cars that are on the Olacabs platform.

Commenting on the investment, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Olacabs said, “We are very excited to have Tiger Global backing us. In addition to the funding, their invaluable experience in the Indian consumer Internet space, will considerably add to our management bandwidth as we rapidly scale. We plan to expand to new cities, hire more people, upgrade technology infrastructure and most importantly, make a significant difference to thousands of consumers and cab operators.”

Olacabs is the first service to offer an iPhone and Android mobile app that not only books a cab, but also helps customers track their cab on their mobile phone until it reaches them. The Olacabs app for drivers acts as an in-car navigation device and fare meter. Olacabs also conducts regular car audits, driver training & sensitization sessions and to ensure standardized service delivery and customer comfort.

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