29 January, 2016, Chennai: An auto-rickshaw aggregator, AutoRaja finally calls off the day. The Chennai based company has decided to shut down its operations due to lack of funds and ability sustain itself in the competitive environment.
The higher officials of the company will strengthen the team of Ola along with AutoRaja’s auto-rickshaws which now will be a part of Ola Auto. One of the officials of AutoRaja stated, “Trying to expand in a market characterised by cut-throat competition and burning cash, AutoRaja had made some miscalculations, forcing the promoters to feel it was sensible to suspend the service.”
It’s been three months since the company had stopped its operations in the city as the shutdown began in August. Though the company has not released any statement confirming the shut-down, its co-founder, Anubhav Agarwal’s Linked in profile says that he is a product manager in Ola since October 2015. Apart from that, company’s another co-founder Aishwarya Raman has also joined Ola auto services in Hyderabad, sources revealed.
AutoRaja came into existence in 2013 and since its launch, the company focused on expanding its reach to the fullest. Within a short span of two years, it has managed rope in 2000 autos only in Chennai city. In order to speed up its operations, company had plans to raise funding of about US $ 3Mnfrom the investors but the idea didn’t click at all. The company though managed to raise funding of US $25K from Shell Foundationbut that was not enough to survive in the competitive market.
