BluSmart Mobility, an Indian ride-hailing startup exclusively employing electric vehicles, has achieved an average revenue run rate (ARR) of Rs 400 crore as of August 2023. This represents a substantial increase of nearly 60 percent compared to the end of the previous fiscal year, cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi told Moneycontrol. According to him, this growth is primarily attributed to the rise in the number of trips and the expansion of their vehicle fleet.
“We had been continuously adding fleets, between March of 2023 Vs now and we would have added more than 1200-1300 cars on the platform. We are able to also increase the number of trips from 6 trips per car a day to now 7.5 trips per car, per day,” Jaggi said.
Delhi-based BluSmart has launched new features where passengers can schedule regular rides for a month, which is helping in gaining more traction.
“We recently launched some premium vehicles in Bangalore which are doing well and we have also started a new feature of enabling recurring trips, just like how you order groceries on a daily basis, passengers can book the cab at a specific time and book for 30 days…We are seeing a lot of traction for this feature,” Jaggi added.
In FY22, BluSmart reported an operating revenue of Rs 29 crore up more than 200 percent from Rs 9 crore reported the year before
“We did an operating revenue of Rs 170 crore in FY23 this comes from the main drivers of increased trips and adding new features,” Jaggi said.
The company however saw its net loss widen to more than 66 percent to Rs 65 crore in FY22.
Jaggi said that the company is inching toward profitability and is already EBITDA positive.
“We are already EBITDA positive as of now not due to bringing down our expenses in a big way but rather by increasing revenue…Road to profitability is through consistent revenue increase,” Jaggi said.
BluSmart finances drivers’ cars, sets up electric charging infrastructure working with partners and is also getting involved in electric-car manufacturing with partner GenSol Engineering Ltd.
BluSmart procures its EV cars from Tata Motors and and it aims to increase its EV car fleet to approximately 10,000 vehicles by March 2024, doubling its current count of 5,000 cars on its platform.
The EV firm was founded in December 2019 by Jaggi and four others with the idea of bringing a new, greener ride-hailing option to the massive Indian market. It raised $109 million across its seed and Series A rounds.
But in a matter of months, the Covid pandemic put the brakes on almost all such services. The market is now recovering, and the startup has expanded to cover two of India’s biggest cities, Delhi and Bangalore.
In May of 2023, BluSmart had raised $42 million from investors including BP Ventures, the investment arm of energy giant BP Plc.
As per industry sources, BluSmart is currently valued at $250 million and the founders participated in the last funding round.
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