JustRide

JustRide
Private
Industry Car rental, Transport
Founded April 2015 (2015-04)
Mumbai, India
Founder Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Abhishek Mahajan, Hemant Sah, Vasant Verma, Amit Sahu
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Area served
 Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, Pune
Services Self drive car rental, car leasing
Number of employees
 60
Website www.justride.in

19°07′10″N 72°54′45″E / 19.1193539°N 72.9124933°E / 19.1193539; 72.9124933

JustRide is a technology aggregator in the business of self-drive car rentals and is headquartered in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. As of December 2015, JustRide operated 358 vehicles on it platform with services in 7 cities across India including Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida and Pune.[1][2] JustRide secured seed funding of $ 1million from notable Indian entrepreneurs in August 2015.[3] Unlike traditional car rental companies in India, JustRide does not purchase the cars registered on its platform. The company aggregates existing car rental operators and links them to customers through its web and mobile based services.[1]

History

Establishment

JustRide was founded in April 2015 by Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Sah, Vasant Verma and Amit Sahu, all alumni of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad and Abhishek Mahajan of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.[4] The company was conceptualised when Ashwarya and his friends lost their newly purchased Ford Figo in an unfortunate accident.[5] Starting off as a luxury car rental service with 8 cars,[6] the company shifted its focus to technology and rebranded itself as a technology aggregator in the self-drive car rental business.[1]

Funding

In April 2015, JustRide secured a seed funding of $ 1million from 8 eminent Indian entrepreneurs Anupam Mittal, Phanindra Reddy Sama, Dinesh Kanabar (ex-deputy CEO, KPMG India),[7] Zishan Hayath, Alok Mittal, Niraj Singh, Nikunj Jain and Rajesh Shahni. Palaash Ventures, an early stage investment firm also participated in the seed round.[8] In December 2015 Google invested $ 50,000 through its Launchpad Accelerator program as equity free seed funding.[9] JustRide raised a pre-series A round of $400,000 from Redcliffe Partners in February, 2016.[10]

Growth

JustRide commenced country wide services in August with simultaneous launches in Bangalore, Pune and Gurgaon. Services were launched in Noida and Navi Mumbai in October. In the same month the company commenced testing its in-house Smart Vehicle Technology (SVT) which taps into a car's OBD system and provides real time updates on the vehicle's location and performance parameters ranging from fuel consumption, tyre pressure to the g-force experienced by car's suspension.[4] JustRide was shortlisted by Google for the maiden edition of its Launchpad Accelarator program in January 2016. Through the event Google aims to provide mentorship and funding to promising startups in India, Brazil and Indonesia and assist them in scaling their business.[11] As part of the program, participating companies received $50,000 equity free seed funding. Google had also announced $250,000 as assistance in terms of access to the company's platforms such as Adwords.[12]

Products and services

Car Sharing

JustRide is primarily a car sharing platform where customers can rent cars on an hourly or daily basis. The company aggregates cars from existing operators which it classifies as vendors. The cars are equipped with SVT and rented out to individual customers through the company's website and mobile applications.[13]

Cab Leasing

JustRide is piloting the concept of renting cars to drivers who wish to partner with transportation network companies like Uber and Ola cabs in the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Drivers who wish to drive a cab but don't have the financial resources to purchase their own vehicle can hire a car with JustRide on an hourly basis and drive for one of the cab networks.[14]

Smart Vehicle Technology

Smart Vehicle Technology or SVT in short is an in-house product developed by JustRide for the purpose of scaling the company's car sharing business. SVT makes use of a car's on-board diagnostics (OBD) and Global Positioning System to relay performance parameters such as tyre pressure, fuel consumption and vehicle location to a central server. The data is used to keep track of vehicles and schedule repairs accordingly.[15]

Corporate affairs

Management and staff

JustRide's founding team serves as the key managerial staff for the company; Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer;[16] Abhishek Mahajan, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer; Hemant Sah, Chief Technology Officer;[1] Vasant Verma, Chief Operating Officer and head of marketing[17] and Amit Sahu, head of research and development and supply chain.

In February 2016, Bharat Palani Nathan, who previously served as the COO with business rival Zoomcar joined JustRide as executive director of operations.[18]

Location and headquarters

The company is headquartered in Powai, Mumbai[6] and has operational offices in Bangalore, Pune and Gurgaon.

Business model

JustRide is a marketplace platform where car rental operators with a rent-a-cab license can on-board their vehicles. The company rents cars to its customers without owning any cars itself. As of December 2015, JustRide hosted 350 cars from 16 vendors. The company operates on a sale and lease back model which is similar to the Indian low-cost airline Indigo.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Car rentals aggregator JustRide raises $2 m in bridge funding". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  2. 1 2 "City startup rushes to the rescue of rent-a-car firms". The Hindu. 2015-12-31. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  3. ↑ "JustRide raises funds from Anupam Mittal, Phanindra Sama & others | ETtech". ETtech.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  4. 1 2 "JustRide: Advancing The Future of Car Rentals with Smart Vehicle Technology! - TechStory". TechStory. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  5. ↑ "An Unfortunate Accident Gave Birth To JustRide". Business World. 2015-12-30.
  6. 1 2 "Justride.in Gives you chance to Ride Luxury cars in India". Bizztor. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  7. ↑ "Dinesh Kanabar quits KPMG, to set up his own advisory firm". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  8. ↑ "Updated: Online Aggregator For Rental Cars, JustRide Raises Angel Funding - Inc42 Magazine". Inc42 Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  9. ↑ "JustRide in Google Launchpad list, to get equity-free seed funding | VCCircle". www.vccircle.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  10. ↑ Sahay, Priyanka. "JustRide raises $400,000 from a group of angel investors". http://www.livemint.com/. Retrieved 2016-03-11. External link in |website= (help)
  11. ↑ "Google Launches Equity-Free Accelerator Program For Mobile Startups In India, Brazil & Indonesia - Inc42 Magazine". Inc42 Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  12. ↑ "Google Developers - Launchpad Accelerator | About". developers.google.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  13. ↑ "Wanna rent a BMW? Go JUSTRIDE!! | Pixr8". Pixr8. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  14. ↑ "Self-drive player sweetens the deal for commuters - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  15. ↑ "Self Drive Car Rental Startup JustRide Raises $2 Mn - Inc42 Magazine". Inc42 Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  16. ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  17. ↑ "Google Selects JustRide For Its Launchpad Programme". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  18. ↑ "Bharath PN, former COO of Zoomcar moves to JustRide as executive director of ops - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2016-02-13.

External links

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