Advised Ola Cabs On Its Series-a Fund Raise From Tiger Global

ANI Technologies’s online car rentals and cab services venture, Olacabs.com has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding from Tiger Global Management. The company intends to use the funds raised to expand to more cities, improve its technology platform and hire more people.

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Launched in December 2010 by IIT Mumbai graduates Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Olacabs.com essentially works as a marketplace, aggregating cab bookings and car rentals through different private taxi operators, small fleet operators and single vehicle owners. These car rentals might be point-to-point services within a city, hour-based rental services or an outstation travel. Olacabs currently provides service in Mumbai and Delhi with a Bengaluru launch expected soon. It claims to operate over 700 cabs in Mumbai and intends to expand its services to ten Indian cities within next year.

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Offerings: Olacabs currently has a web portal, a mobile optimized site and a 24×7 customer service centre. It claims to offer iOS and Android apps as well, although we couldn’t find it on the iTunes store, Google Play store or on their website. The company stated that the iOS and Android app allow customers to track their cab on their mobile phones in addition to cab booking facilities. . The company also claimed that it has increased the inventory utilisation level among small cab operators (Owners of 1-3 cabs) from 40-50% to 70%.

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In April 2011, Olacabs had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors Rehan yar Khan, Shaadi.com Group founder Anupam Mittal,among others. It had then stated that it intends to use the funds for product development and to build operations and marketing teams.

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Competitors: Bangalore based Savaari Car Rentals Pvt Ltd, which offers an online rental service for chauffeur-driven carsm, had recently raised Rs 5 Crore in a series A funding from Inventus Capital Partners. Another Bangalore-based startup YourCabs.com which offers online aggregation of local cab rental services in Bangalore, had raised angel funding from Sprism Investment Pvt Ltd. Getmecab.com offers cab rentals in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore, and has tie-ups with around 25 car rental operators such as APEX, Global Travels, RBTS, KS Car Hire and RBS Tours and Travels and TaxiGuide.in offers online car rental service across 75 cities.

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Apart from that, there are private taxi service operators like Easycabs and Meru Cabs, which had recently partnered with the travel portal Cleartrip to offer a cab booking service for Cleartrip customers.

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