EV ride-hailer BluSmart seeks $300 million to expand car fleet
BluSmart, India’s biggest electric cab operator, wants to raise more than $300 million in three years to add thousands of cars to its fleet in its push to take on the likes of Uber Technologies Inc. in the fast-growing market.
The company will increase its Indian fleet of electric vehicles — supplied by Tata Motors Ltd., BYD Co., SAIC Motor Corp.’s MG Motor and Stellantis NV’s Citroën — to 13,000 by March from 7,500 currently, Punit Goyal, co-founder of the BP Ventures-backed startup, said in an interview. In three years, it aims to have 25,000 cars, he said.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteMIT xPROMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIIT DelhiCertificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisitIndian School of BusinessProfessional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitPart of the funding it raises will go toward the company’s expansion beyond Delhi and the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. BluSmart will launch in Dubai next month with about 100 Audi EVs, and plans to run 300 Audi and Tesla Inc. vehicles there by December, according to Goyal.
While Uber and SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Ola dominate India’s ride-sharing market, both companies have struggled to make profit consistently and face a slew of complaints about deteriorating service. That’s fueling BluSmart’s ambitious bet that customers in major cities are willing to pay a premium for a better experience, which the startup says it can deliver because it exclusively operates its fleet of
