MyTaxiIndia raises $1 million bridge funding from Nihon Kotsu

Aiming to expand into tier 2 and 3 cities, intercity cab rental platform MyTaxiIndia Pvt. Ltd has raised $1 million (around Rs 6.65 crore) in a bridge funding from existing investor Nihon Kotsu Co, which is a leading taxi rental company in Japan.

Nihon Kotsu is an 80-year-old service provider that operates limousines across Japan. It has a fleet of over 1,600 black and yellow taxis in Tokyo alone.

Anshuman Mihir, co-founder and CEO, MyTaxiIndia, said, “Apart from expanding into tier 2 and 3 cities, a part of the money will also go for technology development, marketing and branding.”

Co-founded by Mihir, Mohit Rajpal and Satyakam Rahul in 2012, MyTaxiIndia offers inter-city taxi rental solutions and provides one-way fare ride to commuters for outstation trips. It also does city tours on an hourly basis for B2B clients.

It is currently in talks with investors to raise $5-10 million in a Series A round. In August 2015, the firm raised $500,000 in its pre-Series A funding from Nihon Kotsu Co. Last month, MyTaxiIndia has also won the best startup award at RISE, Hong Kong 2016 where more than 1,000 startups around the world participated. It got Rs 25 lakh as award money.

It has recently tied up with SpiceJet to give passengers the option of booking a taxi to reach the airport at the time of ticket purchase and is looking for more such tie-ups.

The company claims to have 12,000 taxis operating across 120 cities on more than 10,000 routes, through its affiliates. It plans to increase its presence to 200 cities by the end of FY2016-17. The firm uses an in-house routeing and prediction algorithm to automate trip-related processes.