Meru Cabs

Meru Cabs is an Indian ridesharing company based in India.[1] Founded by Neeraj Gupta in 2006, the company is headquartered in Mumbai. Meru revolutionized the way people travelled in cabs by offering AC cabs at their doorstep with a single call. This goes way back in time when the black and yellow taxis (Kaali-peeli taxis) largely dominated Mumbai city roads. Meru is also accredited to be one of the first Indian companies to introduce electric vehicles in its fleet. The initial investment from True North (formerly known as Indian Value Fund Advisors) in 2006 accelerated Meru's journey. Today, Mahindra and Mahindra holds a majority stake as the company continues to offer a wide range of mobility services to individuals as well as business houses across India. Currently, Meru provides app-based transportation services like city rides, city rentals, airport transfers, and outstation travel, etc to individuals as well as corporate houses in 24 cities across India.

Meru Cabs
TypePrivate
Rely on us
IndustryTransport
FoundedMumbai, India (April 2007 (2007-04))
FounderNeeraj Gupta
Headquarters
Mumbai
,
India
Number of locations
24 cities (2015)
Area served
India
BrandsMeru, MeruBizz, MeruSpot
ServicesVehicle for hire
Number of employees
500–1001
Websitewww.meru.in

It provides app-based transportation services like city rides, city rentals, airport transfers, and outstation travel, etc to individuals as well as corporate houses in 24 cities across India.

History

Mr. Neeraj Gupta founded the V-Link Group in 2000. Started as a staff transportation business, V-Link Fleet Solutions expanded its business and provided services to a few of the top blue-chip clients in the BPO sector. In a duration of 4 years, V-Link expanded to a fleet of 1300 vehicles.

In August 2006, Maharashtra government invited tenders for running a fleet of 10,000 air-conditioned, GPS-linked, electronic metered taxis in Mumbai in an attempt to replace the already existing black-yellow cabs (Kaali-peeli taxis). It was during this time that V-Link collaborated with India Value Fund (IVF), a VC company to form Meru. With initial funding of INR 500 million, Meru was launched in Mumbai offering AC cabs to India for the first time, with electronic meters and GPS/GPRS system cabs via the call booking system. In a short time, Meru scaled up its services to the top 4 cities of India with a fleet of 5000 cabs by 2010. With updated technology and to expand the services, customers could book cabs online via Web Browsers or Mobile Apps. Meru was later awarded as one of the Top Emerging Brands in India and its mobile app was listed in the Top E-Commerce Apps of India.

By 2015, With a fleet of 9000 cabs, Meru provided its services in most of the Metros, Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities of India including – Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai Vadodara, Surat, Pune, and Kolkata. Meanwhile, Meru tied-up with the 5 major airports of India and became their official airport cab service provider. By 2018, Meru broadened its service offerings from city and airport rides to city rentals and outstation. Meru also tied-up with Mahindra Electric to offer sustainable transportation in Hyderabad.

In 2019, Mahindra and Mahindra acquired a 55% stake in Meru Cabs.[2] With this merger, Meru expanded its product offerings and added electric vehicles in its fleet. Meru ran a pilot project with 200 electric cars in Mumbai and Delhi.[3] By 2020, Meru grew to become the second-largest ride-hailing service to include electric vehicles(EV)in its fleet; establishing itself as EV led Tech Mobility Company providing end-to-end transportation solutions for personal travel and for corporate travel.

References
  1. Supraja Srinivasan. "Taxi operator Meru Cabs looks to turn to B2B clients". The Economic Times, 9 April 2018
  2. Thakkar, Ketan. "M&M to acquire 55% stake in Meru for cash consideration of up to Rs 201.5 crore". The Economic Times. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. "M&M-backed Meru Cabs to add electric vehicles for fleet expansion". Mint. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.