His startup just raised funds to stop Uber, Ola from killing India’s car rentals

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In February, Malvinder Singh Rikhy embarked on a plan to clean up India’s hot mess of a car rental industry.

Even before on-demand (and low price) ride services like Uber and Ola started competing with smaller car firms, the rental industry was an under-utilized mess. He found that on average, only 30 percent of a car rental company’s services were being used at a given time. “That’s nothing,” Malvinder, known affectionately as MSR to his colleagues, stresses. “Can you imagine the kind of bandwidth that’s being wasted?”

He found that on average, only 30 percent of a car rental company’s services were being used at a given time.

He adds that the money wasted by not using cars was keeping small car firms from growing and hiring more people, something he learned from his years of experience in travel and hospitality companies like American Express and Taj Hotels.

His plan was simple – help the industry get it together and give them the tools via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company to compete against companies like Uber and Ola. He founded Noida-based Mind Your Fleet, which bands rental agencies together so that they can share cars, meaning a larger fleet for everyone and cars that are more likely to be used.

So far, the startup’s raised angel funding from five high net-worth individuals that have a history of investing in one of India’s large travel startups, says Malvinder. The investment, which was undisclosed, will go toward talent acquisition and expanding Mind Your Fleet’s sales and staff, which currently contains just under 40 people. The investors chose to remain anonymous.

Cars for days

Oprah would be so proud.

In December 2015, Mind Your Fleet had 50 operators with 5,000 cars signed up for the SaaS. Malvinder reports that number has since grown to 75 operators and 6,500 to 7,000 cars. Mind Your Fleet has brought together rental agencies including travel site ixigo, Flash Cabs, MTaxi, BlueSky Cabs, FabCabs, Magic Sewa, Cabs 24×7, RRFM, 4U Cabs, XCell, Orange Cabs, ETS, Awis Cars, ATI, and Eco Rent a Car.

The SaaS, available for a one-time fee, provides a customizable interface for a mobile app that links drivers and customers, complete with booking management tools, GPS tracking, data management, and special offer and promotion codes. Since several of the car companies cater to a particular audience – corporates, travel agents, etc. – Mind Your Fleet allows for adjustment of features like prices.

Used successfully, the cost per transaction between company and customer evens out to about US$0.20 to US$0.30 for the rental agency, says Malvinder.