SoCoMo Technologies, the India-based operator of auto rickshaw service Jugnoo, plans to raise between $50m and $100m in its series C round, co-founder Chinmay Aggarwal told DealStreetAsia yesterday.
Jugnoo, which is backed by mobile payment and e-commerce company One97 Communications, launched an on-demand transport service in late 2014 that uses auto rickshaws.
The company, which has begun also using its fleet to offer on-demand food and package deliveries, plans to use the new funding to expand the service from 30 Indian cities to 42 in the next four months and is considering venturing overseas.
Aggarwal, SoCoMo’s chief technology officer, said: “We will soon start our market show, and are targeting to close the planned round, which will be used to expand into newer markets, in the next three to four months.
“We have achieved operating efficiencies much better than what our competitors are doing at this point of time, and we burn lesser money to gain market share as compared to competitors. That is quite lucrative for investors who come in.”
The company closed a $10m series B round last month that featured a $5m investment by One97 subsidiary Paytm as well as contributions from venture capital firm Snow Leopard Technology Ventures and early-stage fund Rocketship.vc.
Paytm and Snow Leopard had already taken part in a $5m series A round closed in June 2015 that took Jugnoo’s overall funding to $6m.