Outstation Taxi Booking Startup AHA Taxis Raises Angel Funding

Online taxi booking startup for outstation travel, AHA Taxis has raised an undisclosed round of angel funding from ah! Ventures. The deal was advised and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its private equity investment platform, CLUBah.com.

Additionally, AHA Taxis has roped in Vikas Taneja of Games247 as advisor.

AHA Taxis was founded in April 2015 by Amit Grover (ex-Infosys, Asian Paints, Onida, IIT-IIM alumnus), along with Praveen Samariya (ex-Times Internet, IIT alumnus), Kunal Krishna (ex-Headstrong, Copper Mobile), Kumar Arayan (ex-Swiggy, Askmebazar, NIIT) and Shivam Mishra (ex-Crazzy, college dropout).

A division of WAAH Taxis Pvt Ltd, AHA Taxis helps travellers save cost on outstation travel by charging only for actual KMs travelled. Traditionally in Indian road travel, the taxi owners charge a return fare from customers even for one way trips, as they are not assured of passengers on return journey.

Amit Grover, Founder, AHA Taxis, explains,

Very few of the present cab provider offers intercity ride, “AHA” being one of them. Having said that, the primary problem with a regular cab is that you get charged for the return trip too. Here, “AHA Taxis” takes the lead by providing you the taxi and charging you only for the actual kilometres travelled. We are aggregating demand and supply using website and mobile app to make it a win-win situation for all stakeholders – taxi owners, customers, society and environment.

The startup provides service in 100+ cities and plans to expand to another 100 cities by mid-2016. It has served outstation trips across 100+ cities.

The company plans to use the funds raised by investing in technology, marketing and operations. Currently the company is clocking almost 100% month on month growth on all metrics, and with angel investors backing, aim to achieve 10x growth within a year.

AHA Taxis plans to expand to newer geographies, with a focus on tier 2/3 towns, and start coverage of non-tourism sector beyond usual routes like Delhi to Jaipur, Agra, Haridwar and Chandigarh.

According to the Association of Radio Taxi India, the taxi business in the country is growing at 20 to 25 per cent a year. The organised taxi sector accounts for just four to five per cent of the industry and totals $800 Mn and is expected to grow to $7  Bn by 2020. Revenues for taxi services providers are expected to grow at a CAGR of about 25% during 2014-19.

Our Investment is AHA Taxis is at the opportune time as we believe strongly in the potential of the business in India. We are extremely confident of the team led by Amit and had no second thoughts on wanting to be early investors in AHA Taxis. We are assured of their service offering & technology and also their ability to create significant shareholder value, Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO of ah! Ventures said.

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