Chennai, May 17, 2016
DriversKart, an innovative startup based out of Chennai, has acquired a Mumbai headquartered on demand driver provider – Driven. Prior to the acquisition, DriversKart, an investee company of ah! Ventures, had recently raised an undisclosed amount of funding from ah! Ventures and few other investors as a part of its Pre-Series A round.
Started in September 2015, DriversKart is already operational in 5 major cities; Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Chennai, has a strong team of 20 employees and is already servicing 10,000 rides a month. It has been efficiently catering to the B2C as well as the B2B market in India and has been the preferred driver provider for self-drive car rental company like zoomcar, justride, etc. This growth shall be even more accelerated given that Driven, is already a strong player in a key geography like Mumbai and is currently serving almost 1000 customers per month.
Commenting on the acquisition of Driven, Vinit Srivastava, co-founder and CEO of DriversKart, says, “Driven has a very strong team and good presence in the Mumbai consumer market and there is immediate value in this deal for DriversKart. We get access to a team who was equally excited and passionate about this space and have had tremendous learnings in short span of time.”
The sentiment has also been seconded by Shivalik Sen, Founder and CEO of Driven, as he says, “We are quite excited about this development. We believe that this acquisition helps Driven be part of a bigger brand and together will provide greater reach across the country.”
The acquisition deal was a combined equity and cash deal. This acquisition, in the wake of the recent fund infusion, stands to be pivotal part in the expansion plans of DriversKart. This move, closely following its Pre Series A round of funding, makes DriversKart a market leader in India’s thriving, on-demand driver marketplace..
Giving an investor’s perspective on the acquisition by DriversKart, Harshad Lahoti,Founder and CEO of ah! Ventures, says, “ah! Ventures being one of the key investors in the recent round raised for DriversKart, we can firmly say that the acquisition is an astute move by the organization. It is perfectly in congruence with the overall expansion plans and helps DriversKart make a mark in a key geography like Mumbai, not only in terms of the service but also in terms of brand exposure to a larger audience. The business acumen and single minded focus of the DriversKart team definitely shows a positive future for the company. ah! Ventures and its investors are glad to be associated with DriversKart”
ah! Ventures is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 750+ investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VCs. CLUB ah! platform today has over 10000+ startups, 625+ seed/angel investors and over 75 VCs & institutional investors, making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups. The network also last year secured its first profitable exit from Ed-tech venture Harness Handitouch within two years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 80 crores in over 24 startups spread across varied industries and domains, including DriversKart.
ah! Ventures is in the process of closing 2 investments deals in the coming weeks.