Namma Yatri eyes another funding round; expansion on cards

Bengaluru: Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)-partnered rapid mobility app Namma Yatri is looking at its next funding round in the next three-six months which will be used for research and development (R&D), product development and expansion, its founder and chief operating officer (COO) Shan MS told DH during an interaction. 

The company had recently raised $11 million in its last funding round in July, led by Blume Ventures and Atler. This was a stage of startup financing that occurs between the seed stage and the Series A funding round. 

Moving Tech Innovations, the parent company of Namma Yatri is currently present in 14 cities across India, operating under different names. While the Karnataka-based mobility app goes by the name Namma Yatri, in Delhi it is known as Yatri Delhi and Yatri Sathi in West Bengal. 

While expansion is one of the priorities of the ride booking app, its working model does not indulge in heavy and rapid expansion with higher returns for stakeholders at the cost of commission from the drivers. Raising a huge amount will involve quicker returns as well as a revenue pressure.  

“We don’t have a top down expansion plan. We’ve faced challenges in that aspect as rapid expansion requires a huge investment amount which will end up in making us another ride hailing company. We want to have a people centric, community driven mobility company in which we can forever not charge commission,” Shan said on the sidelines of the Bengaluru Tech Summit last week.  

Moreover, the company is ready to expand to any state, especially if there is interest from the driver community or other parties at play. 

“Different cities have different needs and we want to deliver our products according to those needs,” Shan informed.

One of the focus points is to help people track buses in real time, “People who regularly travel should be able to live track buses, pre-book it or be aware of the know-how,” Shan highlighted. While he was unsure of a timeline for this kind of a product, the company is optimistic towards integrating these additional features in its main Namma Yatri app. 

The rapid mobility company was in talks to expand in the US markets, in collaboration with the unions there, earlier this year. However, the company didn’t pursue it further due to bandwidth limitations.

“We will launch in the US if we get the right kind of partner, we want to focus on solving Indian markets’ problems right now,” Shan said.