Meru Cabs raises Rs 150 crore from Brand Capital

Meru will use the newly raised funding to further strengthen its foothold in the Indian market with a focus on providing quality service based on a sustainable business model

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | July 1, 2016

Meru Cabs, a cab service launched in Mumbai in 2007, has announced that it has raised a new round of funding of Rs 150 crore (USD 25 million) from Brand Capital, the investment arm of Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (BCCL). Meru last raised Rs 300 crore (USD 50 million) from its existing investor India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) in May, 2015.

The funds will be primarily deployed to increase brand salience and brand awareness with the aim of widening its customer base.

Siddhartha Pahwa

Commenting on the investment, Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, Meru Cabs said, “Meru has been working on a sustainable business model since its inception and has grown its operations across cities as well as continued to provide varied services. With the ongoing transformation in the taxi industry, this move is in line with the company's efforts to showcase its services to a larger customer segment via a bouquet of media channels.”

Shrenik M Khasgiwala

Speaking on the partnership, Shrenik M Khasgiwala, Director, Brand Capital, said, “Meru's profitable and growing business, strong technology and analytics driven platform complemented by an experienced management team were strong and attractive determinants to partner with the company in this high growth consumer facing industry. We are confident that this partnership will help accelerate the process of creating the requisite brand positioning as well as awareness for customers who are present across mediums/platforms like Print, OOH, digital, social media etc”.

India's organised taxi-hailing market, presently at Rs 7,900 crore (USD 1.2 billion), is estimated to reach Rs 1 lakh crore (15 billion USD) by the year 2022, presenting an enormous opportunity for growth in the Indian market. Since 2015, Meru has expanded its taxi service to 24 additional cities, launched four unique services, and grown its fleet size to 20,000 vehicles.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com