Carzonrent to acquire Qcabs

Qcabs, the online car rental service aggregator will be acquired by car rental company Carzonrent Private Limited. The acquisition is in line with Carzonrent's growth strategy to foray into retail space.

Founded in 2011 by Gaurav Dosi and Reshav Singla, Qcabs provides cabs for local usage and outstation needs, aggregating vendors across the city to ensure service to customers.

The portal was extensively used by travel agents from Mumbai and other metros for multi-day travel schedules.

Launched in 2000 by Rajiv K Vij, Carzonrent is the Indian licensee of US-based car rental company Hertz International. In 2007, Carzonrent started its radio cabs business Easycabs.

Carzonrent’s business spans six categories: chauffer-driven cars, self-driven cars, limousine service, operating lease service and Easycabs. The company operates across 13 cities with a fleet of about 6,500 units of different types of vehicle.

It was recently planning to raise Rs 40 crore from existing investors Sidbi Venture Capital, Westbridge Ventures and BTS India.

It plans to purchase about 23,500 cars to add in its fleet and increase this to 30,000 cars in the next three years. The company will set up shop in various cities, including Indore, Surat, Ranchi, Bhopal, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Vadodara, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jammu.

Currently, the promoter owns 70 percent stake, while 9 percent is held by Sidbi Trustee Company Ltd, 7 percent and 12 percent by private equity investors Westbridge Ventures II Investment Holdings and BTS India Pvt Equity Fund Ltd, respectively.

In auto portal space, Car rentals and cab hire services provider – Olacabs raised series A funding from Tiger Global Management. Savaari Car Rentals has raised Rs 5 crore Series A funding from Inventus Capital Partners. India Value Fund has invested in Meru Cabs, which is owned by Mumbai-based V-Link Taxis Private Limited.