[Funding alert] Ex-Paytm exec Amit Lakhotia's Park+ raises $11M co-led by Sequoia India and Matrix India Partners

Park+, a new smart parking solution startup launched by Amit Lakhotia, ex-VP of Paytm Payments, has raised $11 million funding co-led by Sequoia India and Matrix Partners India.

The round also saw participation from MakeMyTrip Founders Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow, Cred Founder Kunal Shah, BookMyShow Founder Ashish Hemrajani, and Snapdeal Founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

Founded in July 2019, Park+ is an app-based platform that offers smart, cloud-based automated parking systems for B2B establishments and daily commuters. The platform provides a real-time experience in parking discovery, booking, payment, and tracking.

Speaking of the fund raise, Amit Lakhotia, Founder, Park+, said:

"Parking is a massive problem faced across all major urban cities in India. Global studies show that drivers spend anywhere between 10-15 minutes every trip locating parking spots, which creates stress and wastes both time and fuel. The issue is worse in larger Indian cities, which are incredibly congested and difficult to navigate. Many drivers wind up parking randomly on the road, which creates a nuisance for municipal bodies and other commuters. With technology, we are looking to solve the problem faced by drivers and commuters on a daily basis.”

India today has over 50 million registered cars , with 70 percent of them concentrated in the top 15 cities of the country. Reports suggest that the parking infrastructure in these cities isn't structured to deal with the high density of cars.

Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, said, “The best startup ideas solve real-world pain points, and Amit’s idea for Park+ is a perfect illustration of that. Parking is a very tough problem to solve, and we felt it would take a founder like Amit to build a parking platform company for India. Having worked closely with Amit at Tokopedia, I am personally thrilled to get a chance to partner with him a second time.”

As per the IBM Global Parking Index 2011, an average urban motorist spends 20 minutes more on the road due to parking problems. This is not only a waste of time, but also loss of productivity.

Avnish Bajaj, Founder and Managing Director, Matrix India, said:

“It is well known that parking is a big problem in most Indian cities. We are privileged to partner with Amit Lakhotia and our co-investors Sequoia India in helping solve this problem at scale. Amit’s depth and breadth of experience in working with leading internet companies is a big asset for building Park+ into a large and successful company.” 

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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