Wings Travels Management, a transport service provider for the corporates, has reportedly acquired Mumbai-based call taxi service Bookmycab.com in a mix of cash and equity deal.
Bookmycab was earlier in the news for its acquisition by Chandigarh-based hyper local marketplace Jugnoo, in July 2015.
However, in a statement to Inc42, Avinash Gupta, founder of Bookmycab said that the deal with Jugnoo fell through because it was taking too much time in the closure.
The deal was actually linked to the Series-B fundraise, which got delayed. Though, later in October 2015, Jugnoo managed to raise $10 Mn from Paytm.
Pune-based Wings Travels started as a car rental company. Today, the company with 550 members on board, provides entire suite of travel and tourism services, innovative services, and intelligent transport management system. Wings Travels claims to provide transport services to over 10 lakh employees of top multinational and Indian companies across nine cities.
The acquisition is a part of Wings Travels’ plan to strengthen its technology and expand business to 47 more cities in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. It will completely absorb Bookmycab’s 50 member team.
Arun Kharat, founder & director of Wings Travels said, “We have merged synergies to create a global technology solution for the fast growing vehicle rental market. The innovative technology will reduce entry barriers for entering new geographies.” He added that the combined entity will be rebranded as Wings Bookmycab and will look for international expansions.
Founded in 2012 by Avinash Gupta, BookMyCab is revered as the first taxi service in Mumbai and in India, to launch metered Black & Yellow (NonAC) Taxis as well as metered Cool Cab (AC) as call Taxis. Bookmycab was the first to succeeded in procuring the radio cab license in Delhi.
Avinash Gupta, founder of Bookmycab said, “We were exploring a stake sale and were in talks with several potential buyers. I am happy that we have found a profitable run, high growth company—Wings—as a partner. We are confident about the strong operational framework and vast experience of the new management.”
With this deal, the investors of Bookmycab, YourNest Angel Fund and Contrarian Drishti Partners, have become the first external investors in Wings and will even get small equity in the company.
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