Google has become one of the investors in Moving Tech, the company behind the open-source ride-sharing application Namma Yatri in India, which is challenging the dominance of Uber and Ola with its innovative commission-free model. Namma Yatri operates on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-supported framework designed to level the playing field in e-commerce across India, the world’s second-most populous country.
The app facilitates connections between customers and drivers of auto-rickshaws and cabs without taking a cut from the rides. Instead, the startup charges drivers a nominal monthly subscription fee. In contrast, ride-sharing giants Uber and Ola typically take a 25-30% commission from drivers’ earnings and have so far opted not to integrate their primary mobility services with the ONDC network. Moving Tech’s co-founders, Magizhan Selvan and Shan M S, recognized a gap in the market after noting drivers’ dissatisfaction with the current ride-sharing ecosystem.
Shan M S pointed out the need for a differentiated approach in a market that has long been dominated by the Uber-Ola duopoly. Moving Tech is focusing on success by offering a service that is inherently valuable, without resorting to customer discounts or driver incentives.
Selvan, who personally completed over 500 auto-rickshaw trips to gain insights into drivers’ challenges, emphasized that empathy is central to the startup’s ethos.
Currently, Namma Yatri is active in several Indian cities, including Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and has reportedly facilitated over 46 million rides since its inception in 2022, as per the company’s public dashboard. Initially incubated by Juspay, a financial services startup backed by SoftBank, Namma Yatri has maintained operational profitability without the need for substantial capital injections.
India’s broader digitalization initiative, known as the “India Stack,” has been underway for the past decade, aiming to digitize the economy and public services through open APIs for identity, payments, and data sharing. This initiative seeks to build a cohesive digital infrastructure accessible to both the government and private sectors, enhancing service delivery to India’s vast population.
The country has already revolutionized mobile payments with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an interoperable system that now handles over 11 billion transactions monthly, surpassing the total volume of all card transactions.
As part of its $10 billion commitment to India, Google participated in Namma Yatri’s $11 million pre-Series A funding round, which was co-led by Blume Ventures and Antler. Karthik Reddy from Blume Ventures lauded Moving Tech for its innovative approach to mobility, expressing excitement about partnering with the team to support their ambitious vision.
With the new funding, Namma Yatri plans to bolster its engineering and research and development teams and aims to broaden its transportation offerings to include buses, according to its founders.
