WhistleDrive raises Rs. 72 cr in Series B from Colosseum Group.

WhistleDrive, a business-to-business transportation services company, has raised Rs 72 crore in Series-B from the Chicago-based Colosseum Group, which invested Rs 5 crore in Series-A last year.

The firm, which has an aggregated fleet of 700 vehicles, is planning to expand its operations in terms of the fleet, people and new cities. Founded by Rakesh Munnanooru in 2016, the firm presently offers its services in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.

“We are planning to increase the number of trips to 10 lakhs a month from the present one lakh a month in the next six months. We would like to bring in 800 more vehicles to the fleet taking the number to 1,500,” Rakesh Munnanooru, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WhistleDrive, said.

It serves 32 clients, covering about 15, 000 employees. It would launch its services in Pune in January-February 2020 and to Delhi in the next financial year.

“We offer transport-as-a-service to the corporate entities. We provide fleet, fleet management services and technology backbone. Depending on the requirement, we offer them independently or as a complete package,” he said.

Of the 700 vehicles, the firm owns only 20 per cent, with the rest coming from vehicle owners. “We believe in the asset light model and would continue to aggregate the vehicles as we expand our services within the cities we are in and to other cities,” he said.

He said company’s tech-platform Whistle Tech allowed corporates to automate the entire transportation process resulting in significant cost savings and improve employee satisfaction. “For the drivers, we offer them predictability in their earnings as we enter into deals that span months,” he said.



HBL