Vehicle-Sharing Platform Drivezy to Expand to 10 US Cities including Los Angeles

Bengaluru-based vehicle sharing marketplace Drivezy on Tuesday said it is planning to expand its services in about 10 cities in the US, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle over the next 12 months.

Drivezy, which counts names like Das Capital, Yamaha Motor Co Ltd and Axan Partners among its investors, had started pilot in San Francisco earlier this year and currently has a fleet of 100 cars in the city.

"The vehicles in the US have been listed through the peer-to-peer channel. We received a strong response and we are now expanding our services to 10 cities in the US with a fleet of 1,000 cars by next year," Drivezy Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ashwarya Singh told PTI.

He added that the cities being considered includes San Diego, Dallas, Las Vegas, Houston and others.

"We are also looking at South America. For that market, we are looking at collaborating with a local partner and we are hopeful of that happening in the next one or two months," he said.

Singh said that over the next two years, international markets, such as the US, Latin America and Southeast Asia, is expected to account for about 20 per cent of the company's revenues with India continuing to account for a lion's share of the business.

Founded in 2015 by Ashwarya Singh, Abhishek Mahajan, Hemant Sah, Vasant Verma and Amit Sahu, Drivezy (formerly JustRide) operates peer-to-peer vehicle sharing network with over 2,000 owners as its partners. In November last year, the company had announced raising USD 20 million in funding and securing an additional USD 100 million in an asset financing deal.

At the end of June 2019, it had over 2,700 cars and close to 17,000 bikes listed on its platform. PTI SR

Self-drive Rental Platform Drivezy Ties with Honda to Offer 3,000 Scooters

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. has joined hands with self-drive rental platform Drivezy to offer 3,000 scooters on the latter's platform in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The strategic partnership sees the company gain momentum in the innovative future of shared mobility services.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashwarya Singh, CEO and Co-Founder, Drivezy said, “The sharing economy in recent years has attracted significant attention due to its potential to generate new markets and employment by making use of idle assets. The future of world belongs to shared, connected and zero waste mobility and we look forward to working closely with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. towards this mission.”

In June, Drivezy expanded its service offerings across 4 new cities including NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad

Drivezy recently commenced its Smart Commute, a last-mile self-drive rental service for Hyderabad Metro Rail passengers. The rationale behind ‘last mile connectivity’ using bikes and scooters is to simplify travel for metro commuters who face difficulties in reaching their final destination from metro stations. Under Smart Commute rentals, customers pay by the kilometer and can rent a two-wheeler for as prices as low as Rs. 2 per Km.

In February this year, the startup raised $5 million from its first round of initial coin offering (ICO), an unregulated means of fund raising by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture.

Drivezy’s marketplace allows individual vehicle owners to list their idle cars, motorcycles and scooters and turn them into profit generating assets by renting the vehicles to customers at a fraction of the cost required to purchase a vehicle. Since the inception of this model, the platform has enlisted over 7,500 vehicles; including cars, bikes and scooters. The company plans to enlist over 10,000 two-wheelers by the end of 2018. Drivezy’s two-wheeler sharing services are also available in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Mysore.

[caption id="attachment_125890" align="aligncenter" width="666"] The fleet of 3,000 Honda vehicles at Drivezy HQ (Whitefield)[/caption]

Drivezy is looking to triple its revenue and fleet size in financial year 2018, which will be driven by its marketplace model. The company aims to utilize the additional fleet to include one-way, intra-city sharing services for motorcycles and scooters in the city. Customers can pick a two-wheeler from designated locations and drop it at any Drivezy location within city limits. Unlike conventional rental services, this absolves the need of returning the vehicle at the point of origin, providing customers a greater degree of convenience. This will allow customers to travel at half the price of taxis and cabs.

Elaborating on the customer trends in the shared mobility segment, Mr Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd said, “Driving the shared mobility story in India is the young and digital savvy generation who is looking for convenient last mile connectivity solutions for their daily commute. Scooters have a universal acceptance due to their unisex appeal comfort and convenience and are the most preferred choice of customers availing shared mobility services. We thank Drivezy for trusting in Honda for their latest fleet expansion of 3,000 units and wish them the very best.”

Founded in April 2015, Drivezy
(formerly JustRide) was one among the few startups selected by the prestigious American startup accelerator Y Combinator for the 2016 summer batch and is backed by Google. The company has raised a total of US$16 million from leading global investors. Headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, Drivezy currently operates in 5 other cities across India including, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Mysore. With a monthly GMV of over $2.8 million, Drivezy is the largest marketplace for vehicle rentals in India. The startup has drawn the interest of notable entrepreneurs and investors from Silicon Valley and abroad, including It-Farm, CrowdWorks, Das Capital, Adora Cheung, Kima Ventures, Susa, Axan, Justin Kan and Paul Buccheit.

Source - Business Wire India | Top Image Drivezy@Twitter

Self-drive Rental Platform Drivezy Ties with Honda to Offer 3,000 Scooters

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. has joined hands with self-drive rental platform Drivezy to offer 3,000 scooters on the latter's platform in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The strategic partnership sees the company gain momentum in the innovative future of shared mobility services.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashwarya Singh, CEO and Co-Founder, Drivezy said, “The sharing economy in recent years has attracted significant attention due to its potential to generate new markets and employment by making use of idle assets. The future of world belongs to shared, connected and zero waste mobility and we look forward to working closely with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. towards this mission.”

In June, Drivezy expanded its service offerings across 4 new cities including NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad

Drivezy recently commenced its Smart Commute, a last-mile self-drive rental service for Hyderabad Metro Rail passengers. The rationale behind ‘last mile connectivity’ using bikes and scooters is to simplify travel for metro commuters who face difficulties in reaching their final destination from metro stations. Under Smart Commute rentals, customers pay by the kilometer and can rent a two-wheeler for as prices as low as Rs. 2 per Km.

In February this year, the startup raised $5 million from its first round of initial coin offering (ICO), an unregulated means of fund raising by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture.

Drivezy’s marketplace allows individual vehicle owners to list their idle cars, motorcycles and scooters and turn them into profit generating assets by renting the vehicles to customers at a fraction of the cost required to purchase a vehicle. Since the inception of this model, the platform has enlisted over 7,500 vehicles; including cars, bikes and scooters. The company plans to enlist over 10,000 two-wheelers by the end of 2018. Drivezy’s two-wheeler sharing services are also available in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Mysore.

[caption id="attachment_125890" align="aligncenter" width="666"] The fleet of 3,000 Honda vehicles at Drivezy HQ (Whitefield)[/caption]

Drivezy is looking to triple its revenue and fleet size in financial year 2018, which will be driven by its marketplace model. The company aims to utilize the additional fleet to include one-way, intra-city sharing services for motorcycles and scooters in the city. Customers can pick a two-wheeler from designated locations and drop it at any Drivezy location within city limits. Unlike conventional rental services, this absolves the need of returning the vehicle at the point of origin, providing customers a greater degree of convenience. This will allow customers to travel at half the price of taxis and cabs.

Elaborating on the customer trends in the shared mobility segment, Mr Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd said, “Driving the shared mobility story in India is the young and digital savvy generation who is looking for convenient last mile connectivity solutions for their daily commute. Scooters have a universal acceptance due to their unisex appeal comfort and convenience and are the most preferred choice of customers availing shared mobility services. We thank Drivezy for trusting in Honda for their latest fleet expansion of 3,000 units and wish them the very best.”

Founded in April 2015, Drivezy
(formerly JustRide) was one among the few startups selected by the prestigious American startup accelerator Y Combinator for the 2016 summer batch and is backed by Google. The company has raised a total of US$16 million from leading global investors. Headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, Drivezy currently operates in 5 other cities across India including, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Mysore. With a monthly GMV of over $2.8 million, Drivezy is the largest marketplace for vehicle rentals in India. The startup has drawn the interest of notable entrepreneurs and investors from Silicon Valley and abroad, including It-Farm, CrowdWorks, Das Capital, Adora Cheung, Kima Ventures, Susa, Axan, Justin Kan and Paul Buccheit.

Source - Business Wire India | Top Image Drivezy@Twitter

P2P Vehicle Sharing Platform Drivezy Expands To NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad

Drivezy (formerly JustRide), India's largest peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform has announced the expansion of its service offerings across 4 new cities, including NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The cities will be operational by August 2018. Drivezy is looking to triple its revenue and fleet size in financial year 2018, which will be driven by its marketplace model.

Drivezy, India’s largest peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform has announced the expansion of its service offerings across 4 new cities, including NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The cities will be operational by August 2018. Drivezy is looking to triple its revenue and fleet size in financial year 2018, which will be driven by its marketplace model.

“Our innovative peer-to-peer sharing model allows owners to rent their cars when idle and earn from an otherwise, depreciating asset. In less than a year, we have partnered with over a thousand owners to enlist 2,300 cars in 6 cities. As a part of our growth plan, we shall augment the listing of motor bikes and scooters on the peer-to-peer sharing model as well. We have 1,700 bikes operational on our platform and plan to enlist over 10,000 two-wheelers till August this year,” said Ashwarya Singh, CEO and Co-Founder, Drivezy.

Drivezy aims to utilize the additional fleet to include one-way, intra-city sharing services for motorcycles and scooters. This will allow customers to pick a two-wheeler from strategic locations and drop it at any Drivezy location within city limits. Unlike conventional rental services, this absolves the need of returning the vehicle at the point of origin, providing customers a greater degree of convenience. This will allow customers to travel at half the price of autos and taxis within city limits.

Headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, Drivezy currently operates across 6 cities. With the induction of the additional vehicles in the previous quarter, the company has doubled its fleet since the start of the current year. The company had launched its marketplace model in 2016. To boost third-party owned vehicles on its platform, Drivezy has partnered with a consortium of 20 banks and NBFCs to furbish loans to partners who wish to purchase a car. Drivezy undertakes all operations once a vehicle is listed the platform.

In addition to expanding their fleet, Drivezy shall launch 100 franchise outlets across over the next two years. With this, Drivezy looks to transform mobility in the country, thereby creating a future that belongs to shared, connected and zero waste mobility.

“We have added multiple packages customised as per the customer’s requirement, such as weekly and daily bike rentals, one-way intercity trips and bike rental services to the existing menu. Overall, we want to alter the way vehicles are purchased, used and sold," said Ashwarya Singh.

PwC and EY estimate that the net worth sharing economy will be a whopping $335 billion by 2025. With increasing internet penetration in the country and a growing millennial population, Drivezy is moving fast to capture the sharing wave with full blockchain integration. The goal is to create a decentralized peer-to-peer shared ecosystem that will enable millions of people globally to share, operate and get the financial benefits from any sharing service, in a trusted and efficient manner; ranging from travel to accommodation and investment services, in a wholly secure and private environment.

Backed by prestigious Y Combinator and Google, Drivezy has raised a total of US$16 million from leading global investors. Headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, Drivezy currently operates in 6 other cities across India including, Mumbai, Pune, Mysore and Goa. With a 246% growth in unique customers over the last year, Drivezy is the largest marketplace for vehicle rentals in India.

The company was in news, in February this year, when it had raised $5 million from its first round of initial coin offering (ICO), an unregulated means of fund raising by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture.

Via - BusinessWire India

Bengaluru-based Car Rental Startup Drivezy Raises $5 Mn from Initial Coin Offering

Bengaluru-based online car rental startup Drivezy (formerly JustRide) has raised $5 million from its first round of initial coin offering (ICO), announced its CEO Ashwarya Singh.

Existing investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs) from Japan and Singapore participated in the round.

An Initial Coin Offering (ICO), also called as Initial Public Coin Offering (IPCO), is an unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture. An ICO is used by startups to bypass the rigorous and regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists, angel investors or banks. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies, but usually for Bitcoin.

Drivezy offered the ICO on the Ethereum blockchain.

In October 2017, Drivezy had announced that it is coming out with an private ICO to raise 17,625 ETH (~$5 million) of funds and for this the startup has partnered with Japanese payment firm Anypay.

In the ICO, Drivezy’s investors were allowed to purchase cryptographic tokens which entitle them to a share of revenue, generated by rental transactions on the platform. For the current round, the company sold close to 3 million tokens.

Drivezy will exchange the money, raised from the ICO route, into dollars via crypto currency exchanges in the US. The startup plans to use the money raised to add 800 cars and bikes to its platform.

For the purpose of offering the ICO, the startup also launched its own crypto coin named RentalCoins which will be used to pay for rides in the coming months, and to invest in shared vehicles operated by Drivezy.

Moreover, in October'17 the startup introduced bitcoin as a payment option for its rides but later discontinued it due to high-costs.

After this ICO, Drivezy plans to raise up to $15 million through multiple rounds of ICOs. Till date, it has raised around $15 million from the regulatory route -- VCs and other investors. The startup had earlier raised $10 million in Series A round that was closed in October 2017, which saw participation from investors like Das Capital, Axan Ventures, CrowdWorks, IT-Farm, White Unicorn Ventures and others. Prior to that, it had raised $3 million in a bridge round led by Y Combinator Partners and Others. Notably, Drivezy was a part of Y Combinator summer 2016 batch.

An Indian startup planning an ICO raises a lot of eyebrows, especially considering the fact that virtual currencies operate in the grey area in India as they are still not legal here. However, unlike regulators in the US or China, Indian regulators have opted to largely remain silent on the issue. This is the reason that Drivezy has decided to launch its ICO in Japan and open it to accredited investors only as it wants to remain cautious if the Indian regulators someday decide to come up with tough regulations against cryptotokens.

While presenting the Union Budget, 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley said crypto currencies are not legal tender in India.

Besides Drivezy, Bengaluru-based blockchain startup WandX launched its ICO in October'17 and had already raised $430,000 as on December'17.

Globally, there have been 234 ICOs in 2017 raising more than $3.6 billion, according to ICO listing website Coinschedule. Though the first ICO, by MasterCoin (now Omni), was in 2013, this investment vehicle has seen an uptick this year.

Zoomcar To Offer Bicycles For Rent At Rs 20 Per Hour

While cycling might not be that famous a sport among the current generation right now, it is important to bring that trend back considering the traffic and pollution situation that our cities are facing and the health issues we’re piling on because of our busy schedules.

Gauging the opportunity that lies ahead, several firms have come up with bicycle-sharing services of their own. Bangalore-based self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar is one such startup. The startup recently launched a tech-enabled bicycle-sharing service called Pedl.

After months of planning and testing out the model, Zoomcar has finally launched India's first app-based cycle renting platform. Though the startup is initially starting with 500 bicycles across three cities – Bangalore, Chennai, and Kolkata, it eventually plans on having at least 10,000 cycles on the road by the end of this year.

To be made available at Rs 10 for half an hour (Rs 20 per hour), the startup aims to make a Pedl bicycle available every 50 to 100 meters in Indian cities.

But, are Indian roads ready for bicycle rentals?

While on the face of it, Indian roads don’t seem so ideal for cycling, but Zoomcar co-founder and CEO, Greg Moran believes that it is more of a ‘chicken and egg kind of situation’ – “China didn’t have many cycle lanes when they started cycle rentals. As the service grew infrastructure was also built. It will happen here too. We got to take the leap. A business model has to come from the private sector. The government then works to create an ecosystem, like it is doing for e-cars.”

Zoomcar is hoping that bicycle rentals end up having a greater impact on Indian users than what was witnessed in China. While bicycle companies in the US offer their users a model where they can drop a bicycle anywhere and it gets automatically locked. The bike can then be unlocked via a QR code. However, in India, Pedl is planning to have drop points where bicycles can be easily parked.



“We look at India independent of China. If you look at our model it is different from what is done there. In China, the bicycles are abandoned. There is no thought process on making a user’s cycling experience consistent. We wanted to take a civic-minded approach, especially because India has infrastructural issues,” said Moran.

Moran also revealed that at present Zoomcar is in the midst of discussions with various governmental bodies to develop policies and design urban infrastructure that can prove helpful in propagation of dock-less cycle sharing across the Indian subcontinent.

While after cars, Zoomcar seems to be focused on capturing the bicycle rental market, it has no plans of entering into bike and scooter rentals anytime soon. This is preliminary because of regulatory hurdles that restrict the use of two-wheelers as commercial vehicles in India. However, according to Moran the firm has already evaluated the option and had also put it in a testing mode.

China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo, which is popularly also referred to as the Uber for Bikes, will soon enter the Indian market. The company, which became a unicorn earlier this year might grace the Indian market with its presence by the first half of next year.

While China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo is gearing to enter India early next year, its Indian counterpart self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy has decided to get ready for the challenge by raising a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round recently.

It seems, the competition in the bike rental business in the country is going to spruce up like never before.

This development was first reported in MoneyControl.

[Image: NDTV Gadgets]

Zoomcar To Offer Bicycles For Rent At Rs 20 Per Hour

While cycling might not be that famous a sport among the current generation right now, it is important to bring that trend back considering the traffic and pollution situation that our cities are facing and the health issues we’re piling on because of our busy schedules.

Gauging the opportunity that lies ahead, several firms have come up with bicycle-sharing services of their own. Bangalore-based self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar is one such startup. The startup recently launched a tech-enabled bicycle-sharing service called Pedl.

After months of planning and testing out the model, Zoomcar has finally launched India's first app-based cycle renting platform. Though the startup is initially starting with 500 bicycles across three cities – Bangalore, Chennai, and Kolkata, it eventually plans on having at least 10,000 cycles on the road by the end of this year.

To be made available at Rs 10 for half an hour (Rs 20 per hour), the startup aims to make a Pedl bicycle available every 50 to 100 meters in Indian cities.

But, are Indian roads ready for bicycle rentals?

While on the face of it, Indian roads don’t seem so ideal for cycling, but Zoomcar co-founder and CEO, Greg Moran believes that it is more of a ‘chicken and egg kind of situation’ – “China didn’t have many cycle lanes when they started cycle rentals. As the service grew infrastructure was also built. It will happen here too. We got to take the leap. A business model has to come from the private sector. The government then works to create an ecosystem, like it is doing for e-cars.”

Zoomcar is hoping that bicycle rentals end up having a greater impact on Indian users than what was witnessed in China. While bicycle companies in the US offer their users a model where they can drop a bicycle anywhere and it gets automatically locked. The bike can then be unlocked via a QR code. However, in India, Pedl is planning to have drop points where bicycles can be easily parked.



“We look at India independent of China. If you look at our model it is different from what is done there. In China, the bicycles are abandoned. There is no thought process on making a user’s cycling experience consistent. We wanted to take a civic-minded approach, especially because India has infrastructural issues,” said Moran.

Moran also revealed that at present Zoomcar is in the midst of discussions with various governmental bodies to develop policies and design urban infrastructure that can prove helpful in propagation of dock-less cycle sharing across the Indian subcontinent.

While after cars, Zoomcar seems to be focused on capturing the bicycle rental market, it has no plans of entering into bike and scooter rentals anytime soon. This is preliminary because of regulatory hurdles that restrict the use of two-wheelers as commercial vehicles in India. However, according to Moran the firm has already evaluated the option and had also put it in a testing mode.

China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo, which is popularly also referred to as the Uber for Bikes, will soon enter the Indian market. The company, which became a unicorn earlier this year might grace the Indian market with its presence by the first half of next year.

While China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo is gearing to enter India early next year, its Indian counterpart self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy has decided to get ready for the challenge by raising a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round recently.

It seems, the competition in the bike rental business in the country is going to spruce up like never before.

This development was first reported in MoneyControl.

[Image: NDTV Gadgets]

How This Bengaluru Startup Beats Uber, Ola In Bitcoin Adoption

While there’s no defeating Ola and Uber when its comes to ride-hailing business in India, but Bengaluru-based self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy might have just outshone these two giants when it comes to Bitcoin adoption.

The startup, which currently has a fleet of over 1300 vehicles in four cities across the country, is planning to come out with an ICO, to raise 17,625 ETH (~$5 mln). Drivezy recently announced the launch of its private Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and has partnered with Japanese payment firm Anypay for the same.

The startup plans on introducing bitcoin as a payment option as it believes by developing initiatives around it will allow for global ownership of its fleet.

“We have started accepting cryptocurrency such as bitcoin for transactions on our platform. We have seen 150-160 transactions through that mode so far,“ said CEO Ashwarya Singh in a statement to Economic Times.



An Indian startup planning an ICO raises a lot of eyebrows, especially considering the fact that virtual currencies operate in the grey area in the country as they are still not legal here. However, unlike regulators in the US or China, Indian regulators have opted to largely remain silent on the issue. This is the reason that Drivezy has decided to launch its ICO in Japan and open it to accredited investors only as it wants to remain cautious if the Indian regulators someday decide to come up with tough regulations against cryptotokens.

One of the biggest apprehensions that merchants have while accepting Bitcoin is its volatile price. In order to manage this risk, Drivezy has tied up with a payment processor called Unocoin. While the app’s users might pay in Bitcoin, Drivezy will be receiving the rupee value of those Bitcoins and thus remains protected from volatility of any kind that might take place. However, if a customer ever wants a refund, the amount they would get could be less/more than the Bitcoins they paid initially, depending on how the price of Bitcoin has moved.

The question that arises here is why a small firm like Drivezy can adopt Bitcoin payment but big firms like Uber and Ola haven’t embraced the technology as of yet. Well, the answer is simple. Being a global ride-hailing superpower, Uber operates in multiple jurisdictions, thus taking this step is much more difficult for them as they have to ensure that they have a comprehensive policy about accepting cryptocurrencies and ensure that regulators from all the countries they operate in are on board.

Last week, Drivezy had raised a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round.

Formerly called JustRide, an equity investment totalling $5 million was made by American and Japanese investors, which included Axan Partners, Das Capital and IT Farm, while a consortium of banks and NBFCs including Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, Cholamandalam Finance and Shriram Finance have gone for a $5 million investment in debt in Drivezy.

This development was first reported in CoinTelegraph.

[Image: PanAm Post]

How This Bengaluru Startup Beats Uber, Ola In Bitcoin Adoption

While there’s no defeating Ola and Uber when its comes to ride-hailing business in India, but Bengaluru-based self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy might have just outshone these two giants when it comes to Bitcoin adoption.

The startup, which currently has a fleet of over 1300 vehicles in four cities across the country, is planning to come out with an ICO, to raise 17,625 ETH (~$5 mln). Drivezy recently announced the launch of its private Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and has partnered with Japanese payment firm Anypay for the same.

The startup plans on introducing bitcoin as a payment option as it believes by developing initiatives around it will allow for global ownership of its fleet.

“We have started accepting cryptocurrency such as bitcoin for transactions on our platform. We have seen 150-160 transactions through that mode so far,“ said CEO Ashwarya Singh in a statement to Economic Times.



An Indian startup planning an ICO raises a lot of eyebrows, especially considering the fact that virtual currencies operate in the grey area in the country as they are still not legal here. However, unlike regulators in the US or China, Indian regulators have opted to largely remain silent on the issue. This is the reason that Drivezy has decided to launch its ICO in Japan and open it to accredited investors only as it wants to remain cautious if the Indian regulators someday decide to come up with tough regulations against cryptotokens.

One of the biggest apprehensions that merchants have while accepting Bitcoin is its volatile price. In order to manage this risk, Drivezy has tied up with a payment processor called Unocoin. While the app’s users might pay in Bitcoin, Drivezy will be receiving the rupee value of those Bitcoins and thus remains protected from volatility of any kind that might take place. However, if a customer ever wants a refund, the amount they would get could be less/more than the Bitcoins they paid initially, depending on how the price of Bitcoin has moved.

The question that arises here is why a small firm like Drivezy can adopt Bitcoin payment but big firms like Uber and Ola haven’t embraced the technology as of yet. Well, the answer is simple. Being a global ride-hailing superpower, Uber operates in multiple jurisdictions, thus taking this step is much more difficult for them as they have to ensure that they have a comprehensive policy about accepting cryptocurrencies and ensure that regulators from all the countries they operate in are on board.

Last week, Drivezy had raised a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round.

Formerly called JustRide, an equity investment totalling $5 million was made by American and Japanese investors, which included Axan Partners, Das Capital and IT Farm, while a consortium of banks and NBFCs including Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, Cholamandalam Finance and Shriram Finance have gone for a $5 million investment in debt in Drivezy.

This development was first reported in CoinTelegraph.

[Image: PanAm Post]

Bengaluru-based Car and Bike Rental Platform Drivezy Raises $10 Mn Funding

While China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo is gearing to enter India early next year, its Indian counterpart self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy has decided to get ready for the challenge by raising a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round.

Formerly called JustRide, an equity investment totalling $5 million was made by American and Japanese investors, which included Axan Partners, Das Capital and IT Farm, while a consortium of banks and NBFCs including Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, Cholamandalam Finance and Shriram Finance have gone for a $5 million investment in debt in Drivezy.

Transportation is considered as backbone of any modern economy. However, rapid motorisation effectuates its own set of issues. While on one hand the burgeoning number of vehicles on road has become a menace in metros across India, a number of cities suffer from lack of good urban commuting solutions. The concept of car rentals may be simple, but it holds immense potential. Be it the positive impact of rental vehicles on the environment or reducing the number of vehicles out on the streets, the shared economy of self drive car rentals can be considered as a promising solution to a number of problems plaguing the urban India right now.

The startup will use the money raised to enter new markets across India and abroad, revealed Ashwarya Singh, CEO and co-founder, Drivezy in a statement. It will also use a part of the capital raised to create rental coins, its own private currency. Drivezy recently announced the launch of its private Initial Coin Offering (ICO). It has partnered with Japanese payment firm Anypay for the same. The startup plans on introducing bitcoin as a payment option as it believes by developing initiatives around it will allow for global ownership of its fleet.

“We have started accepting cryptocurrency such as bitcoin for transactions on our platform. We have seen 150-160 transactions through that mode so far,“ said CEO Ashwarya Singh in a statement to Economic Times.

Drivezy, which is currently claiming to earning an impressive Rs 1.3 crore in monthly revenues, is focused on scaling its fleet by more than six times to 8,000 divided 50-50 between cars and bikes. The company is focused on turning profitable by March next year.

[Image: Justdial]

Bengaluru-based Car and Bike Rental Platform Drivezy Raises $10 Mn Funding

While China’s bicycle rentals on-demand startup, Ofo is gearing to enter India early next year, its Indian counterpart self-drive car and bike rental firm Drivezy has decided to get ready for the challenge by raising a whooping Rs 65 crore ($10 million) in a part-equity and part-debt round.

Formerly called JustRide, an equity investment totalling $5 million was made by American and Japanese investors, which included Axan Partners, Das Capital and IT Farm, while a consortium of banks and NBFCs including Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, Cholamandalam Finance and Shriram Finance have gone for a $5 million investment in debt in Drivezy.

Transportation is considered as backbone of any modern economy. However, rapid motorisation effectuates its own set of issues. While on one hand the burgeoning number of vehicles on road has become a menace in metros across India, a number of cities suffer from lack of good urban commuting solutions. The concept of car rentals may be simple, but it holds immense potential. Be it the positive impact of rental vehicles on the environment or reducing the number of vehicles out on the streets, the shared economy of self drive car rentals can be considered as a promising solution to a number of problems plaguing the urban India right now.

The startup will use the money raised to enter new markets across India and abroad, revealed Ashwarya Singh, CEO and co-founder, Drivezy in a statement. It will also use a part of the capital raised to create rental coins, its own private currency. Drivezy recently announced the launch of its private Initial Coin Offering (ICO). It has partnered with Japanese payment firm Anypay for the same. The startup plans on introducing bitcoin as a payment option as it believes by developing initiatives around it will allow for global ownership of its fleet.

“We have started accepting cryptocurrency such as bitcoin for transactions on our platform. We have seen 150-160 transactions through that mode so far,“ said CEO Ashwarya Singh in a statement to Economic Times.

Drivezy, which is currently claiming to earning an impressive Rs 1.3 crore in monthly revenues, is focused on scaling its fleet by more than six times to 8,000 divided 50-50 between cars and bikes. The company is focused on turning profitable by March next year.

[Image: Justdial]