[Funding alert] Employee transportation startup WhistleDrive raises Rs 72 Cr from Colosseum Group
In the next 12 months, the startup is planning to enter two new cities to offer its 'Transportation as a Service' (TaaS) model to corporates beyond Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
![[Funding alert] Employee transportation startup WhistleDrive raises Rs 72 Cr from Colosseum Group](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/b87effd06a6611e9ad333f8a4777438f/Imagex7v81569494346306jpg?mode=crop&crop=faces&ar=2%3A1&format=auto&w=1920&q=75)
Hyderabad-based WhistleDrive, an employee transportation startup, on Thursday announced it has raised Rs 72 crore from Chicago-based Colosseum Group.
Announcing the Series B funding, Rakesh Munnanooru, Founder and CEO, WhistleDrive, said,
“WhistleDrive target is to grow 10x with this series B investment. In the next 12 months, we will look at entering two new cities to offer our TaaS model - 'Transportation as a Service' to corporates beyond Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai where we will operate, expand fleets, and fast-track customer acquisitions.”
Rakesh Munnanooru, Founder and CEO, WhistleDrive
WhistleDrive provides technology-enabled fleet services for corporates and operates over 700 fleet across three cities. It offers office commute services to several companies, including ADP, Invesco, and Hitachi Consulting, to name a few.
The tech-platform, Whistle Tech, developed by the company, allows corporates to automate the entire transportation process. It serves 32 clients, registering more than one lakh trips a month to transport more than 15,000 employees to their offices, every day.
Expressing the idea behind the investment, Shailendra Tipparaju, Chairman, Colosseum Group, said,
“WhistleDrive team’s mission and execution echo the core of Colosseum Group’s value system. In addition to the significant value they add to the transportation industry via their well-built scalable solution, we are excited to be associated with the Young Indian amazing team! The company roadmap is robust and we found it is the right time to re-invest in their growth story.”
As per industry estimates, the transportation sector in India is currently valued at a whopping $16 billion, of which about $2.5 billion is spent directly by Indian corporates. Yet, the domain still suffers from a lack of tech intervention.
WhistleDrive’s offerings include “Whistle Fleet” – a technology enabled fleet, “Whistle Shuttle” – a B2B shuttle service for last mile connectivity and point pick-ups, and “Whistle 360” – an end-to-end transport management powered by technology and ground operations.
Founded by Rakesh Munnanooru in 2016, the company had last raised Rs 5 crore in April 2018 from Colosseum Group.
(Edited by Megha Reddy)
