Chandigarh-based start-up “Jugnoo” has just received five million dollars to bring India’s much in demand auto rickshaws online.
Jugnoo wants to make it easy for people to hail these auto rickshaws through their smart phones.
Jugnoo’s business model is unique because it is tackling transportation and on-demand delivery at the same time.
The app currently operates in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jaipur. Plans are afoot to expand to Gurgaon.
Jugnoo claims to have 1,50,000 users and handles about 3,000 transactions each day, making about 4,000 dollars in daily revenue.
It was launched in November, and at that time, the company noticed that many people were hailing auto rickshaws not for rides, but to deliver and pick up items.
To keep up, it launched two new services – Jugnoo Meals and Jugnoo Fatafat, which focus on restaurant orders and on-demand deliveries from local stores, respectively.
Both are important sources of revenue for Jugnoo since it wants to keep ride fares low for its cost-conscious user base and avoid surge pricing.
Logistics currently accounts for 30 per cent of the company’s transactions, but its goal is to boost that number to 50 per cent.
A former physicist, Singla was working at his previous startup, Juggernaut, which makes on-demand apps for businesses, when he realized there is a need for instant hailing of auto rickshaws.
