DriveU, Indian on-demand driver aggregator for private car owners has announced the acquisition of Gurgaon-based CallAtHome for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, DriveU will now have over 500 partner-drivers across India.
DriveU, an on-demand driver service for private cars for travel both within the city limits and Outstation travel, is available in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. Through this acquisition, DriveU introduces its highly-regarded service in Gurgaon.
“Gurgaon has an abundance of Fortune 500 companies and shopping malls. It has the third highest per capita income in the country. All this makes Gurgaon, the next logical destination for DriveU. We were impressed with the outstanding customer feedback CallAtHome has received for their driver service. With this acquisition, we will now add 150 partner-drivers to continue the high quality, on-demand DriveU driver service in the Gurgaon area,” said Rahm Shastry, co-founder & CEO of DriveU.
“We are impressed with the breakneck growth that DriveU has experienced in such a short time. We are handing over CallAtHome customers and drivers to a worthy inheritor in DriveU” said Alok Inamdar, co-founder & CEO at CallAtHome.
“CallAtHome has provided unmatched customer experience based on App Store and Facebook reviews. DriveU having quickly ramped up its service in South Delhi were looking to expand into Gurgaon area. We are happy that CallAtHome is part of their equation” added Satyendra Singh, co-founder & CMO of CallAtHome.
Anubhav Sood, co-founder & COO remarked “CallAtHome has established a strong network of reliable, trusted and trained driver partners and they will continue to offer high-quality service on DriveU platform”.
What is DriveU?DriveU offers curated drivers for a consumer’s personal vehicle, by implementing the best practices in technology, driver verification, training methods and on-road commute experience. Uniformed partner-drivers equipped with seat covers, and floor mats at a customer’s doorstep to drive them around the city and beyond. It lets customer focus on their life, rather than struggle with traffic jams and parking woes.
One can travel in the comfort of her own car and not experience the anxiety of not being able to hail public transport or taxi during inclement weather and rush hour.
With DriveU, a customer can hire an on-demand driver at an affordable cost. One doesn’t need to deal with a full-time driver and their sudden absences. The DriveU team ensures seamless user experience by implementing the best practices in technology, driver verification, training methods and on-road commute experience. Customer safety is of utmost importance to DriveU and it follows the stringent policies to get partner-drivers verified by the police and RTO, before registering them on the system.
The company has been operational in Bengaluru since July 2015 and has experienced a phenomenal growth. It is operational in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. DriveU plans to field 1,000 partner-drivers by the end of 2016. It was founded by Ashok Shastry, Rahm Shastry and Amulmeet Shastry.
How does it work?A customer can book a driver using the DriveU App or at its website. The App can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. With the help of the App, one can book the nearest available partner-driver and track the driver while he is on his way to customer’s pickup location. Once a booking is confirmed, all necessary information such as driver’s name, picture, driver rating, phone number, driver’s location and distance from the user’s location and the estimated time of arrival will be provided to the customer. Uniformed, partner-drivers arriving at the customer’s doorstep avoids the anxiety of traffic jams, or not being able to hail a taxi during rush hour or during inclement weather conditions.
The hallmark of DriveU business is a simple, transparent, pay-as-you-go, fare of Rs 99/- per hour. There is no surge pricing ‘feature’ on the DriveU App; hence the chance of getting fleeced with peak-hour pricing is another hassle avoided.
DriveU offers a detailed driver rating and feedback system, which allow users to give a 5-star rating to a driver, and share their feedback on the service. DriveU commits to working with the best partner-drivers and will use this data to develop all its drivers into 5-star drivers.
About CallAtHomeStarted in Gurgaon by Alok Inamdar, Satyendra Singh & Anubhav Sood with the objective ‘To be every car owner’s personal driver’, On-demand driver service CallAtHome has served over 7,000 trips since July’2015 with very high repeat usage.
