Carzonrent Buys Ridingo

Private Equity firm WestBridge Capital backed Carzonrent India Pvt. Ltd, which runs radio cab services besides offering self-drive car rental and fleet management services, has acquired Bangalore based 42 Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs a ride sharing app Ridingo for an undisclosed amount.

With the acquisition, Carzonrent expects ride share business to account for 75 per cent of its business in five years. It will continue to see the Ridingo brand name. New Delhi based Carzonrent, which started as a corporate leasing and Cab rental service provider in 2000 also owns Easy Cabs service and MYLES, a self-drive venture. Its car lease division has a fleet of about 2,000 cars and about 135 corporate clients. It is now focusing on the consumer side of business.

The company is backed by WestBridge Capital, BTS Advisors and SIDBI Venture, had together invested about Rs 80 crore for about 32 percent stake in 2012. Ridingo connects car owners to people looking for a ride within the city. At present, it claims over 8,500 registered users in Bangalore and enables over 400 trips per day.

In October last year, Japan Sumitomo Mitsui Auto service Co Ltd and Sumitomo Corporation through their joint venture firm SMAS auto Leasing India Pvt. Ltd, agreed to acquire the auto leasing business of Carzonrent for an undisclosed amount. At a global level, BlaBlaCar competes with Uber, which operates a carpooling service called UberPool in some markets. It is not available in India yet.