April 6, 2015: It was in 2013 after completion of his graduation, David Back got a full scholarship in business school at the Cambridge University. But, an idea strikes his mind that he never thought will change his fortune forever. He along with his friend Greg Moran gave up their scholarships to move to India to pursue their dream startup. And the idea was about a car rental app and they named it 'Zoom Car.'
They have launched 'Zoom Car' official operations in 2013 with just seven cars. Within less than a year, their company operates more than 250 cars in Banglore. Zoom collabrated with the auto manufacturers like Ford and Mahindra which allowed them to become the first car rental company in India to offer an electric vehicle. They also work with local real estate developers, universities, hotels and corprate IT parks for secure parking for their vehicles and to provide convinient pick-up points for their customers.
David could've settled for a much easier idea for his startup by launching any ecommerce website or a photo sharing app, but he choosen a less travelled path and he explains why, "Zoomcar is both an oppurtunity to build a $1 billion company and at the same time have a big impact. It gives people an alternative to private car ownership - that means fever cars on the road and fewer total miles driven. This allow us to play a part in helping mitigate global climate change."
He further explains why the demand for rental car service will increase in years to come "While the price of cars is coming is coming down, driver wages are going up much faster than inflation because now drivers have an oppurtunity to drive for all the different companies with taxi apps like Uber, Olacabs, and so on. This trend favours renting self-driven cars significantly."
The unique selling point of this startup is everything will be done through app. The app has a 'mobilizer' which sends a signal to unlock the car once the check out is done. There's no driver from company involved in this process. Pick up points can be parking areas of your nearby hotel or university, malls or parks.
The rental starts at INR 19 ($0.3) per hour which covers entire trip cost like fuel, insurance, roadside assistance and tax. Zoomcar app is available on both iOS and Android platform.
Zoomcar owns 900 vehicles at this time at about 100 locations across banglore, delhi and pune. The company owns 600 cars financed by bank loans. They claim to have completed 60,000 bookings till this date.
The company is serious about it's expansion, "In the next four months, we plan to enter Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. We will also more than double our fleet to 2,000 vehicles," says Back.
Source: TechInAsia.com
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