Drivezy Looking to Expand

According to PwC, revenue from sharing economy sectors could more than double from $148 billion in 2014 to over $335 billion by 2025. Bangalore-based Drivezy, formerly JustRide, is a self-drive peer-to-peer car and bike sharing company that has been attracting much interest.

According to PwC, revenue from sharing economy sectors could more than double from $148 billion in 2014 to over $335 billion by 2025. Bangalore-based Drivezy, formerly JustRide, is a self-drive peer-to-peer car and bike sharing company that has been attracting much interest.

Drivezy’s Journey

Drivezy was founded in 2015 by Abhishek Mahajan, Amit Sahu, Ashwarya Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, and Vasant Verma. The idea was born when Ashwarya’s new Ford Figo met with an accident and he realized how much he was spending on maintaining his vehicle just to use it for hardly an hour a day. He along with the co-founders then started a platform called JustRide to allow people to rent cars to self-drive.

In 2016, the company pivoted to a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing model and the platform was rebranded as Drivezy. Using Drivezy’s new marketplace platform, even individual car and two-wheeler owners could list their idle vehicles and rent them out on an hourly basis. The platform uses a Smart Vehicle Technology that monitors every car on the platform and it also offers a partner assurance program to protect the vehicle from accidental damage.

The platform was initially rolled out in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. Today, it has a presence in 11 cities including Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Hubli, Kochi, Mangalore, Mysore, Nagpur, and Manipal. It plans to expand to 21 cities by March 2020. Some target cities include Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Chandigarh.

Drivezy has 3,500 cars and 7,500 operational bikes on its platform. It expects the number of vehicles to go up to 30,000 cars and up to 50,000 bikes by March 2020. Its current userbase is expected to have reached 1 million a month. Bike users on the Drivezy platform include delivery boys from courier and food delivery companies, but not as part of a formal tie-up.

Drivezy’s Financials

Drivezy charges 25% commission for individual owners. Drivezy has a revenue sharing deal with dealerships that add their unsold inventory onto its platform.

Drivezy doesn’t disclose the details of its financials. Some reports indicate that Drivezy’s GMV has grown by 10.04% on a month-on-month basis. Over the last 6 months, the GMV has increased from $2.8 million to $3.5 million. Drivezy’s MAU has tripled from January 2019 till March 2019. The company is aiming for overall profitability by December 2020.

Drivezy has so far raised $31 million in equity funding from investors including IT-Farm, Axon Partners Group, Yamaha Motor, Das Capital, CrowdWorks, Axan Ventures, and Kima Ventures. Its last round of funding was last year for $20 million at an estimated valuation of $100 million. It also raised $100 million in an asset financing deal with Anypay via its subsidiary Harbourfront Capital for purchasing cars, motorcycles, and scooters over three years.

Drivezy is reportedly looking to raise $400 million in asset financing and $100 million in equity at a valuation of $400 million. Drivezy plans to use the funds to expand its fleet and launch its services in international markets across Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the US by the end of 2019.

Drivezy competes directly with vehicle sharing platforms like Zoomcar, Carzonrent, Revv, and Bounce. However, it is the only service to offer both cars and two-wheelers on a single platform. Indirect competitors include Ola Rental and Ubers Hire.