Just a few months after a capital of raise of $10 million, TaxiForSure has got a new injection from Accel Partners.
The amount isn't disclosed, but in a press release the India-based taxi aggregator boasts "the US based venture capital firm is usually known to invest anywhere between $35 million to $50 million in companies at this stage".
Existing investors Helion Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners also participated once more, following the Series B round of $10 million in May this year.
The company says it is planning to launch in more than 25 cities over the course of the next year, as well as boost its head-count in operations, marketing, analytics, product and engineering.
Following this Series C investment, Accel Partner's Sameer Gandhi will join the company’s board of directors.
Gandhi says:
"TaxiForSure’s growth coincides with the development of India’s mobile Internet ecosystem, and the increasing global demand for on-demand transportation. We have deep experience in India as the first investor in companies like Flipkart, Myntra and BookMyShow."
The company claims it has seen 700% growth since August 2013 and doubled transactions every three months since January 2014.
Currently, 45% of the company's transaction business comes via online channels.
TaxiForSure CEO, Raghunandan G, says:
"This is a significant milestone for our company and the Indian ecosystem at large. Accel brings a strong track record of picking industry winners – we are focused on building a product that will improve the transportation ecosystem for millions of consumers."
The company's says it launch market of Bangalore has been profitable since a year, and recently Delhi has also moved into the black.
TaxiForSure currently operates in six cities in India - Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Baroda. The next wave of launches will be in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Baroda, Surat, Indore, and Bhopal.
Founded in June 2011 by IIM-A graduates Aprameya R and Raghunandan G, the company has crossed over two million transactions to date, and it has over 5,000 taxis from 400 operators.
On demand taxi hailing market in India - HOT!
Over the course of last two to three years, on-demand taxi hailing has picked steam with a number of new players launching in India, and also existing players growing aggressively with multi-million dollar investments.
TaxiForSure’s competitors include Uber, Ola Cabs, Savaari, and Meru Cabs.
On August 19, Uber launched in four cities - Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Kolkata. With this launch by Uber, India has become the largest country of operation (by number of launch cities) outside of US.
In November 2013, Ola Cabs, raised Series B round (rumored at $20 million) led by Matrix Partners. The company has over 6,500 taxis in its system, and gets 30% of its bookings via mobile channels.
Uber spiced up the game by launching an API service that has already seen significant adoption by travel brands including TripAdvisor, TripCase, United, Hyatt, and Expensify.
When asked TaxiForSure about its plan to launch an API, Aprameya said "we are rolling it out soon".