Want to book a ride to work but prefer a cheaper mode of transport than an on-demand cab service? Chandigarh-based Jugnoo Autos lets you book a three-wheeler for a minimum fare of just ₹20. SoCoMo Technologies owned-Jugnoo was started by IIT alumni, Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal in November last year with an initial investment of ₹1 crore.The Jugnoo team screens the autorickshaw drivers registered with them and also conducts two-day workshops to train the drivers in app use and etiquette.
Singla, founder of San Francisco-based Juggernaut, an on-demand services provider for start-ups, sensed the potential of such a service in India. The former physicist started by connecting the omnipresent Indian tuk-tuk with passengers and then extended its use for logistics. He explains the decision to diversify into hyperlocal delivery, “After the launch, people started booking autos for delivery of products as well. We also received calls from merchants for the same.”
Jugnoo Fatafat, the hyperlocal delivery service promises to deliver your groceries in about 50 minutes and allows you to place an order from a store even if it isn’t listed on the app. This sets it apart from apps like Grofers, Peppertap and ZopNow. Jugnoo, which accepts orders starting from ₹300, doesn’t charge for delivery but instead pockets a 10-20% commission from the merchant and currently registers more than 200 orders daily.
Apart from being an autorickshaw aggregator and a hyperlocal delivery provider; there is also Jugnoo Meals, an on-demand food delivery service. Like every other on-demand app-based service, Jugnoo uses heat maps to track demand and supply. Jugnoo Meals that competes with food-delivery apps such as Zomato, Foodpanda and TinyOwl delivers meals cooked by in-house chefs and follows a rotational menu. With meals ranging from ₹50-₹140, the food-delivery app receives over 700 orders daily.
However, of the 300,000 requests processed by Jugnoo every month, 200,000 are for hiring autos. Hence, the start-up, which started out as an auto aggregator, has now added cabs to its fleet by acquiring BookMyCab in July this year. Having already secured a licence from the Delhi government to operate in NCR - something that Ola and Uber haven’t yet - gives Jugnoo an added advantage.
In June, Jugnoo raised $5 million from Snow Leopard Ventures and Paytm. The start-up, which currently runs its own digital wallet called Jugnoo Cash, doesn’t plan to integrate it with Paytm’s digital mobile wallet anytime soon. The company’s initial round of fundraising included names such as Rakesh Mathur, founder of Amazon-acquired Junglee and Vikas Taneja, senior partner at Boston Consulting Group. “Raising investments is not a challenge, executing is,” says Singla. Jugnoo is present in Gurgaon, Ludhiana, Indore, Jaipur, Amritsar and Chandigarh and plans to expand to 15 other cities.
