Olacabs has launched Ola Mini cab service in Bangalore with per kilometre rates on par with autorickshaws. The company will charge Rs 13 per kilometre and a base price of Rs 100 for the first six kilometres. Autos in Bangalore currently have a base price of Rs 25 for the first two kilometres and Rs 13 afterwards. It also does not have any night charges unlike autorickshaws that automatically demand more than double the meter charge past 9pm. As of now, the service is not available on their website and Mini cabs can be booked only via phone or mobile app.
The company has 250 Tata Indica Vista and Ford Figo cars as of now under the Mini service and plans to increase it to 1,000 by the end of the year. For normal cabs, Olacabs charges a base price of Rs 200 and Rs 18 per kilometre afterwards. It’s not clear how the company manages to offer such rates and what is the distinction between mini and regular cab service. It had also launched Ola Luxury last year to compete against Uber. It needs to be noted that Uber has a low-cost UberX option, but they have not launched that in India yet.
The company had raised $20 million in series B from Tiger Global Management and Matrix Partners in November last year and had said that the funds would be used to expand operations in other cities, including a few tier-2 cities and non-metros and will also be used to scale its technology infrastructure.
The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Tiger Global Management and was intended to be used for expansion and improving its technology platform. In April 2011, it had also raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors Rehan yar Khan, Shaadi.com Group founder Anupam Mittal,among others.
Launched in December 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Olacabs is essentially a marketplace that aggregates cab bookings and car rentals through different private taxi operators, small fleet operators and single vehicle owners. These car rentals might be point-to-point services within a city, hour-based rental services or an outstation travel. It currently provides its service in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai. Customers can make cabs bookings through its website, mobile portal and mobile app.
