DriveU, India’s first and largest on-demand driver aggregator acquires Mumbai-based Zuver, an on-demand driver service provider that primarily caters to the business segment, in an all-equity deal. Post-acquisition, Sovin Hegde and Sidhanth Mally, founders of Zuver, will join DriveU to focus on driver aggregation for the car rental/lease and service station verticals of the business.
With this acquisition, DriveU further strengthens its position to better serve both consumers and businesses across India’s six largest metro cities - Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Pune and Hyderabad.
"Zuver has been very successful with car dealerships, service stations and car rental/leasing companies in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Increasingly, businesses are demanding a national footprint for their on-demand driver needs. With this acquisition, DriveU will leverage Zuver’s strong suite to cater to customers across major metros that we operate in today,” said Ashok Shastry, Co-founder and COO at DriveU.
“While Zuver focused to serve businesses, DriveU successfully captured a majority of the consumer segment with its superior tech and a simple value proposition. We decided to join forces with DriveU to expand the market for on-demand drivers across multiple verticals,” remarked Sovin Hegde, Co-founder at Zuver.
Zuver’s on-demand driver service allows enterprises to not staff their own full-time drivers, while successfully catering to a fluctuating demand on a daily basis. Currently, Zuver’s B2B business completes over 8,000 trips every month. It’s pan-India customers for car rental/lease service include multinational corporations such as Orix and Avis for chauffeured services and its service station clients include Volkswagen, Maruti Suzuki and Honda, to name a few.
With this acquisition, DriveU now has over 6,000 drivers on its platform. The cross utilization of drivers between B2B and B2C lines of businesses optimizes DriveU operations and guarantee higher earnings for its drivers. The service station and dealer relationships that Zuver brings will serve as a foundation for DriveU’s vision of offering a platform for hassle-free and economical car ownership.
“Zuver identified the unfilled need to aggregate drivers for car leasing companies, car dealerships and garages. We understand the dynamics of this segment well. Under DriveU’s superior ops-tech umbrella, we are excited to further expand our footprint across major cities,” commented Sidhanth Mally, Co-founder at Zuver.
Commenting on this move, Kanishka Puri, Head Servicing at Kiran Motors, an authorized Maruti dealership said, "This merger will help provide a strong platform for car dealerships like us to fulfil our promises to our customers and build a robust ecosystem for auto dealerships”.
DriveU offers a reliable, transparent, on-demand driver service to its customers for local and outstation travel. DriveU focused on and delivered positive unit economics while serving over 2 Lakh trips since its inception. In its recently concluded second year of operations, DriveU tripled its trip counts and revenues as compared to its first year of operation. At the same time, DriveU incrementally improved its gross profit margin, while managing to increase driver earnings.
A typical DriveU consumer spends thrice or more than what they would otherwise spend on a cab ride. This translates into a healthy income for its drivers. A typical full-time DriveU driver can earn a steady monthly income of INR 25,000 – INR 30,000, while some earn more than INR 40,000. At the same time, DriveU removes the burden of EMI payments, fuels bills and vehicle maintenance for the drivers.
In February 2016, Unitus Seed Fund, India’s leading impact seed investor, led the seed investment round in DriveU. Subsequent investment from Unitus has provided DriveU the financial backing required to get to anticipated cash flow break-even by early 2018.
With this acquisition, DriveU further strengthens its position to better serve both consumers and businesses across India’s six largest metro cities - Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Pune and Hyderabad.
"Zuver has been very successful with car dealerships, service stations and car rental/leasing companies in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Increasingly, businesses are demanding a national footprint for their on-demand driver needs. With this acquisition, DriveU will leverage Zuver’s strong suite to cater to customers across major metros that we operate in today,” said Ashok Shastry, Co-founder and COO at DriveU.
“While Zuver focused to serve businesses, DriveU successfully captured a majority of the consumer segment with its superior tech and a simple value proposition. We decided to join forces with DriveU to expand the market for on-demand drivers across multiple verticals,” remarked Sovin Hegde, Co-founder at Zuver.
Zuver’s on-demand driver service allows enterprises to not staff their own full-time drivers, while successfully catering to a fluctuating demand on a daily basis. Currently, Zuver’s B2B business completes over 8,000 trips every month. It’s pan-India customers for car rental/lease service include multinational corporations such as Orix and Avis for chauffeured services and its service station clients include Volkswagen, Maruti Suzuki and Honda, to name a few.
With this acquisition, DriveU now has over 6,000 drivers on its platform. The cross utilization of drivers between B2B and B2C lines of businesses optimizes DriveU operations and guarantee higher earnings for its drivers. The service station and dealer relationships that Zuver brings will serve as a foundation for DriveU’s vision of offering a platform for hassle-free and economical car ownership.
“Zuver identified the unfilled need to aggregate drivers for car leasing companies, car dealerships and garages. We understand the dynamics of this segment well. Under DriveU’s superior ops-tech umbrella, we are excited to further expand our footprint across major cities,” commented Sidhanth Mally, Co-founder at Zuver.
Commenting on this move, Kanishka Puri, Head Servicing at Kiran Motors, an authorized Maruti dealership said, "This merger will help provide a strong platform for car dealerships like us to fulfil our promises to our customers and build a robust ecosystem for auto dealerships”.
DriveU offers a reliable, transparent, on-demand driver service to its customers for local and outstation travel. DriveU focused on and delivered positive unit economics while serving over 2 Lakh trips since its inception. In its recently concluded second year of operations, DriveU tripled its trip counts and revenues as compared to its first year of operation. At the same time, DriveU incrementally improved its gross profit margin, while managing to increase driver earnings.
A typical DriveU consumer spends thrice or more than what they would otherwise spend on a cab ride. This translates into a healthy income for its drivers. A typical full-time DriveU driver can earn a steady monthly income of INR 25,000 – INR 30,000, while some earn more than INR 40,000. At the same time, DriveU removes the burden of EMI payments, fuels bills and vehicle maintenance for the drivers.
In February 2016, Unitus Seed Fund, India’s leading impact seed investor, led the seed investment round in DriveU. Subsequent investment from Unitus has provided DriveU the financial backing required to get to anticipated cash flow break-even by early 2018.
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