Bridgestone India Invests In Tyre Management Startup Fleeca To Bulk Up

Tyre maker Bridgestone India has invested an undisclosed amount in tyre and fleet management startup Fleeca India to strengthen its position in the digital-based mobility solutions and to increase efficiencies of their tyre usage.

Such services based on digital applications assume importance as more and more fleet operators are seeking options like “pay per km” models when it comes to the procurement of tyres, Bridgestone India said.

The company added that the investment will help them to further strengthen its existing service infrastructure, to provide quality and comprehensive tyre services across national highways by leveraging Fleeca’s service infrastructure.

“This investment will enable us to create higher value for our customers in India and help them improve the return on investments,” Bridgestone India’s managing director Parag Satpute added.

Founded in 2016 by Tikam Jain and Lokesh Sharma, Fleeca is a tyre management and fleet care service based out of Jaipur, Rajasthan. The company helps fleet owners to leverage advanced technology in making their businesses more manageable.

The company also provides tyre-as-a-service, where it takes up end-to-end responsibility of taking care of the tyre fleet along with managing any damage on the run.

These services enable monitoring the entire lifecycle of the tyre from fitment to scrap with required interventions to increase tyre life and efficiencies, leading to greater savings by fleet owners, Bridgestone India added.

The company has last raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Serie A from Rajasthan venture capital firm Innovana Thinklabs Ltd to further develop its product, set up the marketing and sales team along with an eye on expansion pan-India.

While Bridgestone India decided to take the investment route to strengthen its offerings, rival CEAT launched Excellerator competition last year to partner with innovative startups.

Through this, CEAT expects to identify entrepreneurs that are addressing large market opportunities in new-age mobility businesses and could have a strong collaboration with CEAT. These new-age mobility businesses include connected vehicles, shared mobility services and fleet management/logistics services.

The company has already invested in Tyresnmore, an online tyre retailer that is also a doorstep fitment provider, and E fleet system, an ERP platform for fleet operators.