Park+, a mobile app that helps people find parking space for their vehicles, has raised $11 million (about Rs 78.30 crore) in a funding round jointly led by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners.
MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra and India CEO Rajesh Magow, BookMyShow co-founder Ashish Hemrajani, Snapdeal founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, and Cred founder Kunal Shah also invested.
Park+ founder Amit Lakhotia said in a statement that drivers spend 10-15 minutes every trip locating parking spots. This creates stress and wastes both time and fuel. “We are looking to solve the problem faced by drivers and commuters on a daily basis,” he said.
Delhi-based Park+ was founded in July last year by Lakhotia, who is a former Paytm and Tokopedia executive. An alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Lakhotia also worked with MakeMyTrip, according to his LinkedIn page, and has been an angel investor in companies such as Trell, BharatPe and Turmswear.
The firm, which is operated by Parviom Technologies Pvt. Ltd, runs a mobile app-based platform that offers an automated parking system and cloud-based security solution for parking discovery, booking, payments, and tracking.
The company is currently in its development phase and will launch its app and services soon. It will offer its services to daily commuters, corporates, and commercial establishments.
Separately, Sequoia India managing director Shailendra Singh said the firm was confident in its investment because of Lakhotia’s ability and the scope of the problem to be addressed.
“Amit’s depth and breadth of experience in working with leading internet companies is a big asset for building Park+ into a large and successful company,” Matrix India founder and managing director Avnish Bajaj added.
In September 2018, VCCircle reported that Lakhotia was part of a clutch of investors that took part in a Rs 1.2 crore (around $160,000) seed funding round in smart parking systems maker Parkwheels. Other investors in that round included co-working startup 91Springboard, and a Kuwait-based investment firm.
