JustRide, an emerging player in the self-drive car rental industry has raised fresh capital of $3 million from marquee YC partners and major global investors. The fresh funds will be used to bolster JustRide’s car sharing platform JustConnect and Yabber, an IoT device for cars which is based on the company’s Smart Vehicle Technology. The company has been to a car sharing economy from am aggregator-based model. JustConnect is a car sharing platform that helps to monetize the cars of the individuals, when not in use.
JustRide,has raised money from major global investors;San Francisco based Susa Ventures, Kima Ventures, Axan Ventures, SCM Holdings from London and IT-Farmfrom Japan. The company is raising the additional funds from the marquee Y-Combinator partners; Justin Kan (Co-founder Jutin.tv & Twitch.tv), QasarYounis (COO, Y Combinator) and Paul Buccheit (Creator of Gmail) to develop ‘Yabber’, a plug and play device that augments the connected car technology and data analytics to analyze the driving skills of the customers.The company, which is mentored by Google’s ‘The Launchpad Accelerator program’, was one of the three Indian companies chosen by Y-Combinator this year, which is highest since its commencement in 2005. The company is at the concluding stage to raise a fresh round of equity from major American firms to invest in its in-house Smart Vehicle Technology (SVT).
At this juncture, Ashwarya Singh, CEO JustRide, explained “Car ownership in India stands at a meager 20 for every 1,000 individuals;in contrast to The US, which boasts of almost one car for every individual aged above 18. A vast majority in India do not have access to personal transport, presenting an extensive market for car rentals. The challenge is to build a sustainable car - sharing model to cater to the average urban commuters, while keeping in mind the interests of the car owners; who have a depreciating asset that is their car and does not get any return on it.By leasing their idle car, an average Indian, who earns $500 each month, can increase their income to twofold. Our car- sharing platform has been received with great interest. We have added 220 cars since piloting the concept in March.We are keen on exploring our Smart Vehicle Technology which powers Yabber. The connected car technology complements our business very well and we shall raise a fresh round of capital to build data centers shortly.”
“We have launched JustConnectwith the vision of creating a car sharing economy. It’s a well-known fact that an average car is seldom driven for more than a couple of hours each day. Many companies have tried to build their business by helping owners rent their vehicles. But, entrusting a stranger with the keys of our car is a dilemma for many. Trust is the key in the sharing economy. This inspired us to expand the scope of our in-house Smart Vehicle Technology (SVT), which was initially used to study the driving behavior of customers and offer incentives. We came up with Yabber, a plug & play on-board diagnostic device which lets cars communicate with external devices. The connected car concept solves the trust concern as it dishes out key inputs on driving behavior of customers. Yabber is also available as a stand-alone product for car owners,” said Hemant Sah, CTO, JustRide.
According to Ken Research, the Indian car sharing market is poised to grow at 15% every year till 2018. However, in India most car rental services operate with the traditional model, which restricts their scalability, as they have to purchase every car in their fleet .JustConnect, the new platform introduced by the company helps the car owners to earn by renting their idle vehicle.It integrates the connected car technology with micro leasing of vehicles to build a collaboratively shared fleet of cars accessible to all.
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