Chandigarh based startup Jugnoo acquires BookMyCab

Jugnoo has acquired the 100% stake in the affordable taxi service which operates in Delhi and Mumbai

Jugnoo, a Chandigarh based leading player in the hyperlocal marketplace space today announced  its successful acquisition of BookMyCab, a dominant player providing affordable taxi service in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Talking to Business Standard, the Chief Executive Officer of Jungoo informed that it was a cash plus stock deal in which Jugnoo has acquired the 100% stake in BookMyCab and the promoters of the merged entity will have a small stake in Jugnoo.

He added that Jugnoo will retain all employees (at present 40) of BookMyCab  to its existing headcount of 150 employees.

With the hyper local segment heating up, this acquisition is a way to get a faster entry into Mumbai market. BookMyCab got the cab aggregation license in Delhi last month that both Ola and Uber have been unsuccessful at getting.

When asked how would he restructure the business post acquisition, Singla told that he will assimilate the existing portfolio of Jugnoo with the new product. BookMyCab is operating in Mumbai and Delhi and Singla has no plans to expand it to other cities while he is ramping up his existing products pan India.

For Jugnoo, this acquisition comes at the right time, in sync with their expansion plans and is a strategic  move to launch in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, and bring 2000 “kaali peelis” onto their platform.  That will get Jugnoo to about 4000 vehicles and 10k daily transactions in a month. Just a month and a half  back, Jugnoo accomplished closing a $5 million ?Series A? supported by Snow Leopard and PayTM. These back to back wins should propel them to capture the interest of VCs and get them rolling for a $20 million  Series B raise, the discussion for which are already in full swing.

“We do not want to foray into a full fledged taxi segment. The Kaali-Peelis would provide us another vertical of affordable transportation and expand our basket”, Singla added.

Jugnoo started as an auto rickshaw aggregator i Novenmber 2014 and quickly diversified into hyper local deliveries. Running 3  apps all at the same time, Jugnoo Autos, Jugnoo Meals and Jugnoo Fatafat, Jugnoo is the largest auto  rickshaw hailing app and the largest meal delivery app independently in the country already. For them, this  acquisition is more beneficial for its practical offerings, BookMyCab’s wide­spread reach makes it smoother  for them to venture out into taxi aggregation.

Samar adds ?“ We have a very loyal customer base that has  been requesting taxi services for some time now and taxi drivers also want us to enter the taxi space. The  definition of middle class has been redefined in today’s times, fatter pay­checks, and time constraints  wash the guilt of taking a comparatively expensive means of transportation­ Taxis. But we would be  juvenile if we think that we can run the show by just sitting on this acquisition, while it makes things  easier, it also increases expectations. My inbox is already bombarded with ideas from the team on how to  get the ball rolling. Exciting times ahead” .

The deal terms are executed and all the paper work is expected to be wrapped up in a weeks’ time.