Dubai's Careem Acquires Hyderabad-based Transportation App Commut

Dubai, UAE-based ride-hailing app Careem has acquired Commut, a Hyderabad-based mass transportation app, marking its entry into India, announced the company on Monday.

Careem did not disclose the size of the deal, which it said would accelerate Careem's expansion into mass transportation through the addition of bus services across the 100 cities it operates in.

Post acquisition, Commut’s talent and technology will be taken by Careem while Commut's local operations – including its customers and driver-partners – will be taken over by Shuttl, a shuttle service provider based out of Gurgaon, India. This is part of Shuttl's deal with Careem, when the Gurgaon-based firm had raised US$11 million in a series B round led by Amazon and Dentsu Ventures in July.

Backed by Chinas Didi Chuxing, Careem is itself reported to be the subject of a potential takeover bid by US ride-hailing giant Uber in a deal that could value it at $2 billion or more.

Founded in 2015, by six IIIT Hyderabad graduates, Commut has been funded by UK-Based Shell-Foundation and 50K Ventures and its bus shuttle service has been operating in Hyderabad since November 2015. To date, they’ve made over 750,000 trips within more than 100 existing routes and are the third-largest transportation app in India. The six co-founders of Commut are -- Charan Thota, Hemanth Reddy Jonnalagadda, Prasanth Garapati, Sandeep Kachavarapu and Srujai Varikuti.

Prasanth Garapati, CEO of Commut, said: “We built Commut with the mission to touch and improve people’s lives by offering an economical, comfortable, safe and tech-enabled mass transit solution. Our mission is in line with Careem’s of providing users with a safe, reliable, affordable and convenient means of transportation for people. Joining Careem and building the mass transportation vertical will help us in fulfilling our mission at a much larger scale”.

To recall, Careeem had also acquired Savaree, a Lahore,Pakistan-based cab service startup, in March 2016

Shuttl Speeds Through With 1 Million Rides Across Delhi NCR

Gurgaon-based Shuttl, a bus-aggregator company claims to hit another milestone by, reaching its one millionth completed rides across Delhi-NCR in only 194 days of its operations. From being an intra-city to a pan Delhi-NCR public transit service, Shuttl has seen massive transformation. Shuttl has also been able to save Rs 5.10 mn per day in fuel cost for commuters, has kept 4,727 vehicles off the road daily and saved 53,460 tonnes carbon emissions till date during all it operational days. Currently, 50% of users board their Shuttl from Gurgaon, the business haven of NCR, 33% from Noida, and 17% from Delhi and rest of NCR.

Speaking on the occasion, Shuttl co-founder and CEO Amit Singh said, "It’s been a phenomenal ten months for the team. The public has embraced Shuttl beyond our expectations and the kind of growth we have achieved is remarkable. While we are excited about our performance to-date, there is much to be done in the coming months. Milestones like these are valuable but what really brings us joy is to see how we’re all waking up to the power that rests in our hands - the power to lead our cities to a healthier future by commuting wisely."

With more than 60 routes already connecting Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad & Ghaziabad, Shuttl aims to become India’s favourite office-commute, offering a sustainable solution to counter all the difficulties associated with urban transit. Shuttl’s also been actively involved with Gurgaon police’s Car Free Tuesday initiative and the #OddEvenRule that was implemented earlier in January by the Delhi government.

Shuttl, which claims to be India's largest bus-aggregating platform, aims to make daily commute more convenient for urban intercity travellers. The company is based out of Gurgaon and caters to the needs of commuters in the Delhi-NCR region with more than 15000 rides per day. Shuttl launched its tech-enabled platform in April, 2015. It received its first round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Angel investors, which helped them create a robust technology and bring more than 500+ buses to the platform. The platform generates an e-ticket for each user with a confirmed seat in the Shuttl. It is trying to solve the problem of young Indians looking for a smarter mode of commuting. The increasing traffic woes and pollution has led to the birth of Shuttl as a greener and smarter transport alternative.

Shuttl Speeds Through With 1 Million Rides Across Delhi NCR

Gurgaon-based Shuttl, a bus-aggregator company claims to hit another milestone by, reaching its one millionth completed rides across Delhi-NCR in only 194 days of its operations. From being an intra-city to a pan Delhi-NCR public transit service, Shuttl has seen massive transformation. Shuttl has also been able to save Rs 5.10 mn per day in fuel cost for commuters, has kept 4,727 vehicles off the road daily and saved 53,460 tonnes carbon emissions till date during all it operational days. Currently, 50% of users board their Shuttl from Gurgaon, the business haven of NCR, 33% from Noida, and 17% from Delhi and rest of NCR.

Speaking on the occasion, Shuttl co-founder and CEO Amit Singh said, "It’s been a phenomenal ten months for the team. The public has embraced Shuttl beyond our expectations and the kind of growth we have achieved is remarkable. While we are excited about our performance to-date, there is much to be done in the coming months. Milestones like these are valuable but what really brings us joy is to see how we’re all waking up to the power that rests in our hands - the power to lead our cities to a healthier future by commuting wisely."

With more than 60 routes already connecting Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad & Ghaziabad, Shuttl aims to become India’s favourite office-commute, offering a sustainable solution to counter all the difficulties associated with urban transit. Shuttl’s also been actively involved with Gurgaon police’s Car Free Tuesday initiative and the #OddEvenRule that was implemented earlier in January by the Delhi government.

Shuttl, which claims to be India's largest bus-aggregating platform, aims to make daily commute more convenient for urban intercity travellers. The company is based out of Gurgaon and caters to the needs of commuters in the Delhi-NCR region with more than 15000 rides per day. Shuttl launched its tech-enabled platform in April, 2015. It received its first round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Angel investors, which helped them create a robust technology and bring more than 500+ buses to the platform. The platform generates an e-ticket for each user with a confirmed seat in the Shuttl. It is trying to solve the problem of young Indians looking for a smarter mode of commuting. The increasing traffic woes and pollution has led to the birth of Shuttl as a greener and smarter transport alternative.