JustRide Raises $3 Million In A Bridge Round By Y Combinator Partners And Others

JustRide, an emerging player in the self-drive car rental industry has raised fresh capital of $3 million in a bridge round from Y Combinator partners Justin Kan, QasarYounis, and Paul Buccheit. The other global investors included San Francisco-based Susa Ventures, Kima Ventures, Axan Ventures, SCM Holdings from London, and IT-Farm from Japan.

Typically, in a bridge round, existing or new investors pump in additional money to ensure the company doesn’t run out of cash until it raises the next round of funds. 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).

The fresh funds will be used to bolster JustRide’s car sharing platform JustConnect and Yabber, an Internet of Things (IoT) device for cars which is based on the company’s Smart Vehicle technology.

With huge demand for automobiles in the Indian market, JustRide expects to turn profitable within the next 18 months. “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 do not get any return on it,” said Ashwarya Singh, CEO & co-founder of JustRide. “By leasing their idle car, an average Indian, who earns $500 each month, can increase their income to two fold.”

According to Ken Research, the Indian car sharing market is poised to grow at 15 per cent 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.

As the demand for car rental services in India rises, JustRide plans to switch to a marketplace model where individual vendors could register their fleet of cars on the company’s website. The vehicles shall be upgraded with the company’s SVT service and rented out to individual customers for a minor service charge. The company is refining its hyper local service model to deliver vehicles in less than 10 minutes from their time of booking.