Exclusive: WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton tops up investment in Trak N Tell

Bengaluru-based Trak N Tell, which provides car safety solutions, has raised $5 million (Rs 34.51 crore at the current exchange rate) in a fresh funding infusion from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, an existing investor.

The company raised the money earlier this month, according to the company’s latest filings with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA).

The funds have been raised at a valuation of nearly $37 million-$40 million (Rs 254 crore-Rs 276 crore at the current exchange rate), as per TechCircle estimates.

The MCA filings show the company is also backed by two other US-based investor entities, Chalet LLC and Komojo. 

TechCircle could not immediately confirm the identity of these two investors.

The company’s last known funding round was in July 2016 when it had raised nearly $3.5 million (Rs 23.3 crore then) from Acton, Chalet and Komojo.

It could not be ascertained whether this is part of a larger funding round. 

E-mail queries sent to Trak N Tell seeking more information on the latest funding round did not elicit a response till the time of publishing this report.

Trak N Tell

Bits n Bytes Soft, which operates Trak N Tell, was founded in 2007 by Pranshu Kumar Gupta. 

The company provides telematics systems that synchronise vehicular intelligence data to reproduce predictive insights on global positioning system (GPS), recover stolen vehicles, predict engine failures and other services. 

The company’s solutions have been designed to cater to both individuals as well as car fleet owners.

Its flagship product for individual car owners, Intelli7, is a GPS-based unit that enables car owners to track vehicles and even immobilise them in case of a theft. Intellifleet, the product-level counterpart for fleet owners, offers the same solutions for fleet and convoy owners.

A computer engineering graduate, Gupta had earlier served in the US operations of software vertical of global oil & gas major ExxonMobil and Yahoo.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2018, the company’s operational revenues rose nearly two-fold to Rs 4.96 crore from Rs 2.69 crore the previous year, according to the company’s financials filed with the MCA.

The company managed to reduce its net loss to Rs 4.65 crore from Rs 4.85 crore the previous year.