Meru Cabs, India’s most preferred cab service, today announced that it has raised a new round of funding of Rs.150 crore ($ 25 million) from Brand Capital, the investment arm of Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL). Meru will use these funds to further strengthen its foothold in the Indian market with a focus on providing quality service based on a sustainable business model.
India’s organised taxi-hailing market presently at Rs. 7,900 crore ($ 1.2 billion) is estimated to reach Rs. 1 lac crore ($ 15 billion) by year 2022 presenting an enormous opportunity for growth in the Indian market. Since May 2015, when Meru last raised Rs.300 crore ($ 50 million) from its existing investor India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA), India’s pioneering taxi service has expanded to 24 additional cities, launched four unique services, and grown its fleet size to 20,000 vehicles. As the only profit making taxi services company for its combined businesses of taxi operator and taxi aggregator, Meru will be deploying these funds primarily to increase brand salience and brand awareness with the aim of widening its customer base.
Commenting on the investment, Mr. Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, Meru Cabs said, “Meru has been working on a sustainable business model since its inception and has grown its operations across cities as well as continued to provide varied services. With the ongoing transformation in the taxi industry, this move is in line with the company's efforts to showcase its services to a larger customer segment via a bouquet of media channels.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shrenik M Khasgiwala - Director, Brand Capital said, “Meru’s profitable and growing business, strong technology and analytics driven platform complemented by an experienced management team were strong and attractive determinants to partner with the company in this high growth consumer facing industry. We are confident that this partnership will help accelerate the process of creating the requisite brand positioning as well as awareness for customers who are present across mediums/platforms like Print, OOH, digital, social media etc.”
Meru’s pioneering efforts in creating a taxi segment that caters to the evolving transport needs of the Indian customer has led to several services in the industry that have redefined the ecosystem. Innovation in services and building robust technology processes has been the focus for Meru in the last year. Introducing a service based on shared economy, Meru was the first taxi player to introduce the Carpool service in October 2015 that encouraged customers to share their personal cars, reduce traffic congestion and contribute to a greener environment. The RideShare service, wherein customers share their Meru ride, witnessed tremendous success in both phases of the odd-even initiative in Delhi. Meru was also the first to launch a specialized service for differently abled and elderly commuters called ‘Meru Enable’ via spacious and disability equipped vehicles and trained and sensitised drivers. Meru receives over 70% of its booking from the mobile app and continues to adopt unique technology products to ensure seamless booking and navigation for its customers. Integrating its booking system with Facebook’s Messenger Bot, Meru now has access to a national platform to connect with millions of customers.
