Employee transport company Whistledrive Services Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 72 crore (about $10 million at current exchange rate) in Series B funding from Chicago-based Colosseum Group, an umbrella brand for several entities focused on investment, research and training.
In a statement, Whistledrive founder and chief executive Rakesh Munnanooru said the company will use the funding to grow itself by at least 10 times. It will also look at entering two new cities, he added.
Currently, the Hyderabad-headquartered company offers its services in its hometown, Bengaluru and Chennai.
Colosseum had previously invested Rs 5 crore in Whistledrive in April last year.
Founded in 2016, Whistledrive says it offers office commutes to several companies, with some of its clients including Invesco and Hitchai. Its technological platform, WhistleTech, allows clients to automate their transport services.
Whistledrive, which serves 32 clients, says it registers more than 100,000 trips a month, ferrying over 15,000 passengers daily. It also provides employees with apps to help with live tracking, SOS services and other security and privacy-oriented features.
Deals in the transport segment
There have been several moves in the transport and mobility sector, even as ride-hailing platforms Uber and Ola make attempts to capture larger portions of the Indian market and diversify into other categories.
For example, earlier this week, electric taxi startup Blu Smart raised $3 million (around Rs 21.22 crore) in an angel funding round from several investors including Ka Enterprises LLP, the family office of actor Deepika Padukone.
In August, homegrown private equity firm WestBridge Capital led a Rs 391 crore (around $54.6 million) Series B funding round in Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs bike-pooling and taxi-startup Rapido.
