DiversKart acquires Mumbai-based Driven

Chennai-based DriversKart, an on-demand driver solution provider, has acquired Mumbai based start-up Driven. DriversKart cofounder and CEO Vinit Srivastava said that it was an equity and cash deal but declined to reveal the deal value.

DriversKart, run by Get Driven Technologies, enables users to hire drivers on an hourly, weekly or monthly basis through its app. It was founded by serial entrepreneur Vinit Srivastava, former Jabong executive Lakshmi Potluri and former Cognizant executive Saksham Grover in 2015. In April this year the company had raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round of funding from ah! Ventures.

Post-acquisition, DriversKart will become a market leader in India's on-demand driver marketplace.

The Chennai-based startup serves 10,000 rides a month and operates in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Chennai. It has about 20 employees under its payroll. It aggregates drivers and agencies on its marketplace after verifying the antecedents of the drivers and training them.

Presently the company has it has a network of 200 professional and background-verified drivers. It follows a per-minute pricing band, which offers the flexibility to pay as per the time used. Available on both Android and iOS platform, DriversKart app allows customers to request for a driver at a specific time and location. This request is received by the operations team, which sets out to identify a suitable driver.

DriversKart app has seen around 4,000–5,000 downloads so far. It is the most preferred driver provider for self-drive car rental company Zoomcar, Justride, etc., and has strong presence in B2B and B2C segment. It competes with the likes of DriveU, Zimmber and Driver Bulao.

Srivastava said Driven has a strong team and good presence in the Mumbai consumer market.

There is immediate value in this deal for DriversKart. "We get access to a team which was equally excited and passionate about this space and has had tremendous learnings in a short span of time. It gives access to 150 driver partners servicing 1,000 customers a month. The deal will strengthen the presence of DriversKart in Mumbai."

Source : BS Motoring