Meet ApnaCabs, the 'kaali peeli' taxi aggregator

‘Kaali peelis’ or the black and yellow cabs are a way of life for Mumbai. Travel solutions provider ApnaCabs aims to bring the multi-million dollar idea of taxi aggregation to these existing kaali peeli taxis and Cool Cabs and offer eco-friendly and affordable mode of transport via a phone call or mobile app.

ApnaCabs CEO and founder Srikanth Lingidi helms the overall operations of the company with a special focus on business strategy and technology. An entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in business development and project management, Lingidi holds an MBA from the Duke Fuqua School of Business, North Carolina. Before creating ApnaCabs, he was the President of the US-based technology consulting firm Peopletek. In conversation with tech2, Lingidi shares more about the startup.

What is the story behind settling down with offering taxi aggregation services?

ApnaCabs came about when I sensed an opportunity in the gaps that existed in what seemed to the outside world a very exciting, multi-million dollar investment driven story of the taxi aggregation business. Having successfully consulted several large clients in US on technology, this presented me an opportunity to use technology in the consumer facing business to fill the gaps beyond what the other aggregators were already doing.

How big is the team? How do you sustain this business model?

Currently we are team of 40 spread across various functions. The promoters of the company are running the operations with their own funding and on commissions from rides. As our aim is to build a sustainable business model we keep our costs to manageable levels. We do not have big bang spends on customer discounts or in your face promotions/advertisements. As we progress, our operations will sustain through our revenue models of advertisements and commissions on rides.

How do you make your services easy to use for the consumer?

We offer clean cabs with polite multilingual chauffeurs. Our cabs are eco-friendly with CNG kit installed. We provide options for long distance and short distance rides, available for point-to-point transfers, airport and railway station pick-up and drops. We provide printed receipts for each journey enabling customers to account for their expenses.

Customers can either do a pre-payment through credit or debit cards or pay it once they reach the destination. Customers can access Cab in a jiffy through the call center or app. Every cab is tracked and monitored by ApnaCabs’ proprietary GPS based technology, Our Customer Service Center works by 24/7. We also have a feature where customers can hire a cab by hours - for 4, 8 or 16 hours. All our cabs are with foolproof security with a panic button in every vehicle.

Could you share details about the funding raised till now? What do you foresee in terms of funding for the future?

We are bootstrapped startup currently. However, for our expansion plans, we are looking to raise over 5 million dollars in the next six months.

What sets you apart from other similar offerings? How do you plan to compete with other operators like Ola and Uber?

Our business model and focus is quite different from other players in the market. We are not competing with any of the pioneers for the same business. We are a licensed operator, we have a security model in place, our revenue models are not competing, and we have multiple streams. Our objective is to plug the gaps. We will never do massive discounting or surge pricing - we want to make it very predictable, be it to the customer or the taxi driver or our investors.

We believe that these are very different from what is the current mindset. Credit must go to Uber and Ola for creating attention and spurring various business models around taxi aggregation. India is a huge country and its people are continuously consuming various services and products.

Like every business we believe that the taxi aggregation business has a huge potential - much beyond the very attractive numbers that are always predicted. Customers are looking for various options and we are of the opinion that ‘one size fits all’ does not serve everyone’s purpose.

Why would a customer choose your services over an Ola or an Uber? Will the customer get better rates with your service?

We strongly believe that the market potential is tremendous for several players to come up and initiate new business model. Our vision and model is more focused on building a long-term sustainable and profitable business and not on just gaining customers. Our unique and much-appreciated security model is a proof of our intent.

Do taxi drivers get any sort of incentive on collaborating with your company?

Taxi drivers are looking at long term association with our company due to our understanding of their needs. Incentives are one way of ensuring they remain motivated. However in our model, we do not go overboard to create any wrong expectations. We want to create a predictable situation for them so that they can plan accordingly.

What are the rules and regulations that need to be followed when running this sort of a company?

Since taxi aggregation is a new business model, governments across the country are trying to figure out the ride rules and regulations to ensure the entire ecosystem benefited. In Maharashtra, under the licensing model, we have to follow the Call Taxi Scheme of 2010. It includes clauses like a 24-hour call center, equipped with staff and technical support should be set up, a minimum of 1500 meter taxi permit holders shall give consent to participate in the scheme and that the vehicle shall be fitted with GPS/ GPRS devices enabling communication with the central control unit with live tracking facility.

What are your growth plans and roadmap for the near future?

Our pilot projects are already launched in Delhi and Hyderabad and next target for the business will be Pune and Bangalore.