1. Why did you startup in carpooling?Commuting to office is identified as the biggest daily challenge by more than 70 percent people in top 100 metros across the globe. It was same for Delhi NCR, hence decided to solve this problem. We founded Orahi with the aim to address various challenges related to commuting like:
a) Pollution levels
b) Petrol consumption cost
c) Parking and taxi cost
d) Travel stress and cost of commuting
2. Didn’t it scare you being in the same space as biggies, Uber and Ola?Not at all. Orahi is the most convenient and cost effective option.
A taxi user pays at least 12 to 15 rupees per kilometre in the current scenario. A user of taxi pooling pays 8 rupees per kilometre that too with many terms and conditions added to the ride.
However on Orahi the cost of commuting is always 3.50 rupees per kilometre with no hidden charges. With Taxi pooling you have lots of detours to make and you never know when you will reach home and who you will have to travel with.
The quality of ride with Orahi in contrast is very enjoyable as commuters always travel with home and office neighbours and are always like minded.
3. Is it true you also approached Ola about your idea?We keep on meeting all players in commuting space in many common forums. In fact Orahi has formed the Ridesharing Platform Provider’s association of India with many P2P carpooling players.
4. You say tech has solved the issues of safety in ridesharing. How so? I say this because on Orahi we have developed a triple layer of verification to guarantee safety. Users must provide their mobile number and corporate and government IDs.
Apart from this, all community members can see star ratings, home and office locations, number of rides and last six travelled people.
Hence this information makes the Orahi platform very robust in safety and security.
5. What must we know about Orahi?Orahi is an economical way of commuting. At 3.50 rupees per kilometre, it is cheaper than taking the metro or auto.
Orahi mostly targets the office goers for now. We are also moving into the college going group too.
Orahi has helped users expand social as well as professional circles.
Orahi has crossed 1 crore kilometers and has helped save 1.2 million kilograms of CO2 in Delhi/NCR with the help of 1 lakh registered users.
6. Who are your investors?
Indian Angel Networks and friends.
7. How long did it take you to convince them?It is a set process that is followed at IAN. We did three meetings before the agreement.
8. What’s your advice to entrepreneurs?Perseverance is the key to success. You need to eat, drink and sleep your idea. There is no shortcut. Hard work is the only way.
9. What’s one thing investors can do to further support their entrepreneurs?Investors can help in many ways, one of the most helpful ways is to help widen network of business colleagues.
10. What plans for 2017 – 2020?At present we hold 1.7 percent of Delhi NCR market. We plan to go deeper in Delhi NCR in 2017. We also plan to expand ourselves in 5 more cities in 2017, starting with Pune and Bangalore in this quarter. We would like to become a de facto name in corporate carpooling space.
11. Any ideas for the center to improve on the Startup India movement? Any policies you’d suggest be tweaked?Government can create a startup friendly eco system to make fund accessibility easier.
Some policy tweaks around intellectual property (IP) creation will also be a great help to many startups.
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
