RAIN funded startup launches Auto Finder App, ChalogeKya

Funded by the Rajasthan Angel Investment Network (RAIN), Jaipur based start-up ChalogeKya has launched its mobile application using which a passenger with a smart phone can locate and call the closest auto rickshaw for pick-up.

“The application is free for the passenger. The service is unique and different from similar service launched by startups in cities like Ahmedabad, Pune and Bangalore and by the state government in Delhi, as it works with a combination of GPS and cell tower triangulation to enable direct contact between the passenger and auto, without the involvement of ChalogeKya – in other words, it is a perfect market-place model,” stated the company’s official press release.

ChalogeKya charges only a small monthly subscription fee from autos which enables them to be visible to the passengers on the ChalogeKya application. Autos can sign up using a regular phone with the SIM provided by the start-up.

Talking about the recent launch, Apoorv Sharma, co-founder, ChalogeKya, mentioned, “We have signed up close to 300 auto rickshaws and almost all of them are active as on date. We had launched the application for pilot testing in the second week of February. Around 50 autos having smart phones were signed up and close to 300 customers used the application to find and call these autos. We also realised during the pilot the need to think beyond smart phones for locating autos and after discussing with couple of telecom service providers, came up with the new technology that does not require the autos to have a smart phone to track their location on the passenger app.”

Commenting on the launch, Chintan Bakshi, COO of the RIICO and CIIE, mentioned, “We are very upbeat about the model of auto aggregation being used by ChalogeKya. It is lean model and does the right degree of intervention necessary to organise the largely unorganised auto rickshaw market. Too much organisation and regulation will drive the auto rickshaw drivers away and too less will not deliver enough value to the customer.”

Jaipur has more than 26,000 rickshaws with more than one lakh passenger rides on a daily basis. India has more than 50 lakhs auto rickshaws distributed over the top 100 cities, translating into a market size of Rs 50,000 crores per annum.

“We have tied-up with Airtel and Idea for providing location based services using GPS and triangulation methods for the auto rickshaws across Rajasthan. We are also in talks with e-mitra kiosks for payment collection services for auto rickshaws across the state which would give us coverage in more than 40 towns and cities of the state through the 5,000 plus emitra state. Passengers with android phones can simply download the application through the Google Play Store for free. In short, we are now ready to scale up our services seamlessly in Jaipur and across Rajasthan,” said Sharma.