Google has joined investors backing Namma Yatri, an open-source ride-sharing app in India that is eroding market share from Uber and Ola with its no-commission model.
Namma Yatri, whose parent firm is Moving Tech, works atop of Open Network for Digital Commerce, an interoperable e-commerce scheme backed by the Indian government. Namma Yatri’s app connects customers with auto-rickshaws and cab drivers without charging either party for rides. Instead, the company collects a small monthly fee from its driver partners. (Uber and Ola pocket as much as 25-30% of the ride cost to drivers.)
Namma Yatri is operational in more than half a dozen Indian cities including Bengaluru and Hyderabad and has completed over 46 million rides since its launch in 2022, according to its public dashboard. Namma Yatri was originally incubated by Juspay, a SoftBank-backed financial services startup.
India has been pursuing an ambitious strategy over the past decade to digitize its economy and public services through the “India Stack” — a set of open APIs for identity, payments, and data sharing. This government-led initiative aims to create a unified digital infrastructure that can be leveraged by both public and private sectors to deliver services more efficiently and inclusively to India’s 1.4 billion citizens.
Google, which has pledged to invest $10 billion in India, took part in Namma Yatri’s $11 million pre-Series A funding round. Blume Ventures and Antler co-led the investment, the Bengaluru-based startup said in a statement.
“Moving Tech is at the forefront of transforming mobility with a fresh and innovative model,” said Karthik Reddy, Partner at Blume Ventures, in a statement. “We were amazed by the simplicity of what the tech and a robust product can do to solve mass mobility. We are glad to partner with an exceptional team and back their grand vision.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.