Revv raises USD 9 Mn in Series A equity and debt

In yet another major milestone achieved, Revv, the Delhi-NCR based shared mobility solutions platform has announced USD 9 Mn of funds raised, across equity and debt. Series A equity funding was led by Edelweiss Private Equity, and debt funding from financing partners such as Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and car leasing partner LeasePlan India.

The start-up already counts the likes of Gautam Kumra (recently elected India MD of McKinsey & Company), Rajat Dhawan (Mentor to McKinsey’s automotive practice) and Ananth Narayanan (CEO of Myntra), as its angel investors.

Having successfully scaled its operations across four cities in the last 15 months, Revv intends to leverage the freshly acquired capital to launch its services in newer markets, create new products to address untapped and potentially mainstream use-cases, and to build proprietary technology to enhance customer experience.

Founded by ex-McKinsey executives, Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain, Revv started out with car-sharing as its first product, and has spent the last 15 months in establishing it as a mainstream mobility option, while building a profitable and scalable business model around it. The company has combined an innovative asset-light sourcing approach with its unique delivery model (i.e. substituting hyperlocal parking with doorstep delivery) to make the customer experience seamless yet highly affordable.

Speaking on the milestone, Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain of Revv said, “We have witnessed a continuous uptick in the acceptance of our first product (car-sharing), with very encouraging repeat rates. More than half of our revenues come from repeat users. Users are realising that a combination of hired mobility options can be a true and practical alternative to owning a car.”

The number of people giving up traditional asset ownership is set to grow exponentially. The rise of taxi-hailing apps has been an important market-creator, weaning people away from traditional car ownership. The key would be to address the highly varied needs of a shared-mobility user, through a suite of products tailored for each need. For example, a weekend leisure trip, or mobility in a new city where one has relocated for a 3-month project, or a one-way outstation trip for work, or continuous availability of a car, but with the flexibility to turn it on/off at will.

This “integrated suite of products” approach will make it easier for users to shift to a shared-assets lifestyle, in addition to delivering an experience that feels closer to a self-owned vehicle experience. Additionally, it also helps the supply side if the fleet can be used interchangeably across products.”

“Our ambition is to change India’s ‘2% car ownership penetration’ to ‘50% car usage penetration’, with a vast majority of urban Indians getting affordable access to safe and comfortable mobility. We want to be accessible in almost every million-plus city in India.

A substantial part of the funds will go towards building technological capabilities on two-sided sharing platforms, predictive inventory management, dynamic pricing and driver behavior monitoring”, they added.

Pranav Parikh, Managing Partner, Edelweiss Private Equity said, “The on-demand economy will challenge the traditional asset ownership models, which bred inefficiency on both the supply and demand side. A vast majority of the 2 crore cars on Indian roads are under-utilized, while the demand for vehicles continues to be strong. We believe that Revv’s approach to creating use-case based products will meet customers’ needs without compromising the convenience and flexibility of owning the vehicle, while allowing for better utilization of assets on the supply side. We are pleased to be part of its promising growth story, led by entrepreneurs who are focused on aggressive yet profitable execution.”