Transportation software startup Mind Your Fleet raises bridge round

Noida-based Kromozones Software Pvt Ltd, which runs and operates fleet management solutions provider Mind Your Fleet, has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round of funding from a group of angel investors.

The round was led by Japan Vyas, co-founder and managing partner of Sixth Sense Ventures and angel investor Tarun Adlakha, the company said in a press statement. The round also saw participation from other unnamed angel investors.

Mind Your Fleet will use the funds for product development, and sales and marketing.

"The ground transportation industry is currently shrouded in opaqueness, and only with technology one can remove the cloud," said Jitender Arora, co-founder at Mind Your Fleet.

Mind Your Fleet, which was founded in October 2015, is a SaaS-based enterprise tool that helps car rental companies manage their operations and their retail and corporate customers.

The tool allows fleet owners to access each other's inventory in real time and connect with several demand-side players including online travel agents (OTAs), corporates and hotels.

The company says several car rental companies including Bharat International Travel, D-Cabs, Fab Cars, RR Fleet Management and Cabs 24/7 have already registered on its SaaS platform.

"Traditional car rental companies are struggling to run their businesses, ever since Uber and Ola have entered the Indian market. But the majority of their concerns lie elsewhere. At any given time, a car rental company utilises only a fraction of their fleet. This in turn leads to wastage of money and huge operational challenges," said Malvinder Singh Rikhy, co-founder of Mind Your Fleet in the statement.

Besides Mind Your Fleet, Arora has previously founded Kleward Consulting, an IT services firm. Rikhy, on the other hand, brings with him 25 years of experience in the travel industry and is the former chief executive of tourism firm Kuoni Travel and former chief operating officer of Indian Hotels.

The startup is currently led by Karambir Singh, an alumnus of INSEAD with experience across multiple functional areas, including business development, product management, operations, and finance at companies like Amazon, venture capital firm Notion Capital and investment research firm Morningstar Inc.

Other players in the car rental space that recently raised funds are Revv, which raised a Series A round of funding led by Edelweiss Private Equity in December last year.

In November 2016, JustRide, a renting marketplace for self-driven cars, raised $3 million (Rs 20 crore) in a bridge round of funding from Y Combinator and a number of global investors.

In August last year, self-drive car rental service Zoomcar raised $24 million (Rs 161 crore) in a Series B round of funding led by US auto giant Ford Motor Company's newly created 'smart mobility' unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth

Partners and Empire Angels also participated in the round. In December, Zoomcar received an additional tranche of investment from Chinese venture capital firm Cyber Carrier CL.