Meru Cabs plans to raise $100 million by April from investors

Company is looking to expand its operations to over 40 cities by the end of this year

Meru Cabs is looking to raise $100 million (Rs 625 crore) by next month from US- and Hong-Kong-based hedge funds and venture capitalists to fund its expansion in the country.

“We had recently raised $50 million from our existing investors, India Value Fund Advisors. We are planning to further raise $100 million from a set of investors,” Meru Cabs Chief Executive Officer Siddhartha Pahwa said.

The fund-raising exercise would be completed by next month, he said.

The Mumbai-based firm, which has presence in about 20 cities currently with a fleet of over 15,000 cars, is looking to expand its operations to over 40 cities by the end of this year.

Pahwa said, “We are focusing on three things. First, we are looking at increasing our customer base. Second, we are looking at upgrading auto-rickshaw users to our small cabs (Genie) and, third, to expand in new cities.”

The next round of funding would be utilised for these three focus areas, he said.

Meru began operations in 2006 and has been growing exponentially since then, Pahwa said. “With this kind of growth, we expect our fleet to increase to 100,000 cars in the next three-four years,” he added.