TYGR Aims to be a Listed Company in Singapore in the Next 5 Years

TYGR is a technologically-evolved omni-transport platform based out of India. Work on TYGR started on 2015 and it has evolved significantly in last 12 months. From one full time employee (the founder) till early 2016, it is now a talent hub with nearly 35+ brain-counts.

On the product front, what started as a simple communication and hailing service for cabs only, it now offers discovery for multi-modal road vehicles and transporters.

TYGR has been appreciated and approved by many taxi unions and state transport departments. It was also selected by NASSCOM for its prestigious INNOTREK 2016 program to USA’s silicon valley and where TYGR was showed to many tech leaders, innovators, investors, mentors. TYGR was also the top 5 products of Nasscom Product Conclave 2016 (EAST) and is a Facebook Startup (FBStart) selected company.

Aditya Poddar, Co-Founder and CEO, TYGR and Dipanjan Purkayastha, Co-Founder and CBO, TYGR are the core founding members of the startup.

TYGR is a revolutionary single platform B2B/ B2C transport and logistics marketplace that connects traditional transport fleets including cabs, auto rickshaws, bikes, trucks tempos, inter/intra-city rental vehicles like limos, buses and cars, ambulances, recreational vehicles with individual consumers and business entities.

Through its mobile app and web-based platform, TYGR enables real-time booking and tracking of vehicles. Our focus is to introduce app-led services that are disruptive, innovative and trendsetting. Our principals can simply be summed as G.O.D. – GENERATE creative, innovative, internet technology products and OPERATE them into scalable businesses that DISRUPT the status quo.

How was it started?
The founder’s family business is in transport and logistics for last 40 years and given that how businesses are moving online to bring efficiency it is given that this sector also needs to be disrupted for good. As a transporter, a usual day (and night) is spent on either finding the right vehicle through our network or tracking it. This is done either going to the transport market physically or via phone to brokers and fleet owners and tracking is done if the driver can be reached over phone. It’s a very tiresome process and sometimes only a few bookings can occupy your full day and that also goes to waste if you are not able to deliver the vehicle to the customer. A transporter is as good as the network and reach he has to get the best price. A transport and logistics marketplace will help increase any transporter or business’ reach and will also help him track the vehicle real time among other value added services.

What are the unique Key features/services they offer?
TYGR is a revolutionary single platform B2B/ B2C transport and logistics marketplace that connects traditional transport fleets including cabs, auto rickshaws, bikes, trucks tempos, inter/intra-city rental vehicles like limos, buses and cars, ambulances, recreational vehicles with individual consumers and business entities. Through its mobile app and web-based platform, TYGR enables real-time booking and tracking of vehicles.

Unlike other logistics startups, who are focused on aggregating and controlling the operations and payments of the fleet that ply on their platform, TYGR gives full freedom to the fleet owners to run the business the way they have been running for generation but at the same time automating them and helping them improve their customer service gradually to compete with the aggregators while keeping their operation cost low.

How is it different from existing ones?
Unlike other logistics startups, who are focused on aggregating and controlling the operations and payments of the fleet that ply on their platform, TYGR gives full freedom to the fleet owners to run the business the way they have been running for generation but at the same time automating them and helping them improve their customer service gradually to compete with the aggregators while keeping their operation cost low. It also responds to the concerns of passengers by providing more details about the service provider, cheaper rate compared to other aggregator models and enabling constantly real time tracking facilities.

What is your funding status?
We are gaining funds through subscription and revenue sharing, and also through ongoing franchisee selling. Some angel investors are funding us as well.

What kind of Monetization Model do you follow?
Revenue in the business will be generated through various models:
1. Subscription – passenger and freelance delivery service providers will pay a monthly subscription fee to use the platform. It will range from INR 150 to INR 500 a month.
2. Revenue share/ brokerage – Logistics and Specialty service will give a commission for any business generated from the platform. It will range anywhere between 4% to 20 %, depending on the service and usage.
3. Sale of value added services and ancillary products.

What are their future plans?
Currently, the company is focused in making TYGR a leading market place for transportation in India and many other developing and developed countries around the world. We hope to do this by getting the best talents onboard, developing enviable products for transportation sector and creating a world class and respected company. In next five years we hope to be listed in one of the world’s leading stock exchange through our holding company in Singapore.

TYGR wants to create a perfect market through perfect competition in the transportation and logistics sector via its online market place. This can only be possible if there is a large number of demand and supply with perfect information and no barriers to entry and exit. TYGR hopes to on board 100,000 vehicles and 50,000 regular paid customers by 4th quarter of 2017.

What Marketing efforts are they putting in?
As it is a digital platform for logistics, digital media plays will be playing an integral part of marketing. Social media and internet marketing will promote this app across the globe. Regular events and launches in different cities across India, CSR promotions, regular promotional schemes will keep fetching target market onboard. We are looking to partner with network providers and continuous R&D in technology aspect to bring about new features. We are also following traditional marketing such as print media, radio, television newspapers, leaflets etc to reach to a wider range of audience.

What were the challenges they faced early on?
Lack of smart phones usage among drivers, network issues, competition from aggregators are some of the challenges faced.

What is their Market size and opportunity in this space?
Passengers market is 9 Billion USD/year in our country and logistics is 140 Billion USD/year. 95% of logistics market is very unorganized and unstructured and thus our business has huge potential to solve the age-old logistics issues. Compound Annual Growth Rate is 14% which increases our opportunity in market.