21st August 2014 | Mumbai | Investment Banking
Serendipity Infolabs Pvt. Ltd., the company behind India’s leading online cab aggregation service Taxi For Sure has closed its Series C financing round led by Accel Partners US with participation from its existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners India and Helion Venture Partners.
The company has been on a strong growth trajectory and has further accelerated post its last financing round in May earlier this year. With this new fund infusion, its goal is to expand to 30 cities by the end of this fiscal year. Taxi For Sure has established itself as the market leader amongst aggregators in each of the markets it is present in and it has been able to scale up in a highly capital-efficient manner. The company has already turned profitable in the cities of Bangalore and Delhi, the first in its peer set. Presently, Taxi For Sure works with 400 taxi operators with a fleet of 7,000 cabs across 6 cities.
Avendus Capital was the sole financial advisor for this transaction.
Speaking on this event, Raghunandan G, Co-Founder & CEO of Taxi For Sure said, “This is a significant milestone for our company and the Indian ecosystem at large. Accel’s global reach brings invaluable experience, which allows us to leverage resources known only to a small number of Indiabased companies. 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.” "Taxi For Sure's growth coincides with the development of India's mobile internet ecosystem, and the increasing global demand for on-demand transportation," said Sameer Gandhi, Partner at Accel Partners US.
Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Aashish Bhinde, Executive Director (Digital Media & Technology) at Avendus said, “The growth momentum that Taxi For Sure has demonstrated over the past year has been exceptional and it continues to take major strides in this large and growing cab aggregation market. Accel Partners US has a rich experience in the global cab aggregator space and their coming on-board further testifies the leadership and strong business that the Taxi For Sure team has built.”
About Serendipity Infolabs Pvt. Ltd. (Taxi For Sure)
Taxi For Sure started operations in 2011 and is today India’s leading online cab aggregation company. It works with various taxi fleet operators and enables them with technology to ensure that customers get reliable services. It currently operates services in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai. Customers can book taxis for point-to-point hires, local packages and outstation and airport transfer taxis across various car types. The company has delivered over 2 million rides to its customers. Company’s existing investors include Bessemer Venture Partners (www.bvp.com), Accel Partners (www.accel.com), Helion Venture Partners (www.helonvc.com) and Blume Ventures (www.blumeventures.com).
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel. Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have defined their categories, including 99designs, Actuate, AdMob, Agile Software, Alfresco, Angry Birds (Rovio), Atlassian, BBN, Bonobos, Braintree, Brightcove, Cloudera, ComScore, Diapers.com (Quidsi), Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Fusion-IO, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, IronPlanet, JBoss, Kayak,Lookout, Macromedia, metroPCS, MoPub, OPOWER, Polycom/PictureTel, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Rapt, Real Networks, Redback, Responsys, Riverbed, Spotify, Squarespace, SunRun, Trulia, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wonga, XenSource and Zimbra. In India, Accel has made investments in companies such as Ace Creative Learning, Babyoye, EduPristine, enStage, Flipkart, Forus, FreshDesk, HealthcareMagic, Mitra Biotech, MuSigma, Myntra, Perfint, Probe, PropTiger, QwikCilver, SherSingh, SureWaves, Trivone, Vinculum and Virident. For more information, please visit www.accel.com
About Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd. (“Avendus Capital”)
Avendus Capital is a leading financial services firm which provides customised solutions in the areas of financial advisory, equity capital markets, alternative asset management and wealth management. The firm relies on its extensive track record, in-depth domain understanding and knowledge of the economic and regulatory environment, to offer research based solutions to its clients that include institutional investors, corporations and high net worth individuals/families. In recent years, Avendus Capital has consistently been ranked among the leading corporate finance advisors in India and has emerged as the advisor of choice for cross-border M&A deals, having closed around 40 cross-border transactions in the past 5 years. Avendus PE Investment Advisors manages funds raised from its investors by investing in public markets, while Avendus Wealth Management caters to investment advisory and portfolio management needs of Family offices and Ultra High Networth Individuals / families, spanning all asset classes. Headquartered in Mumbai, the firm has offices in New Delhi and Bangalore.
Avendus Capital, Inc (US) and Avendus Capital (UK) Pvt. Ltd. located in New York and London respectively are wholly owned subsidiaries offering M&A and Private Equity syndication services to clients in the respective regions. Avendus Capital, Inc (US) also provides wealth management services to clients in select jurisdictions in USA.
For more information, please visit www.avendus.com