When Ravikumar Kumaraswamy underwent a knee surgery and was advised against driving for at least six months, he looked towards the next best option — carpooling. The then VP with an MNC was surprised at the lack of platforms for the service. The curiosity got to him and he ended up floating a survey to find out the issues people faced with carpooling. As one thing led to another, the corporate professional decided to quit his job, branch out on his own and find a functional solution to the carpooling issue. And that’s how GreenPool came about.
The on-demand carpooling platform has been built on the “cost sharing” principle and connects drivers and riders for a fee. According to Ravikumar, the four problems faced by people when looking to share a ride are, “flexibility in terms of time; trust issues; choosing who to ride with; and ascertaining the cost accurately”. He adds, “The idea received great response in startup forums and I decided to give up my job and start my own company. It was a huge decision to take after having worked for 22 years. But then I believe that entrepreneurs are of two kinds — very intelligent and who know what they are doing, or foolish with no idea of where they’re headed. I think I fall into the second category.”
So, in August 2015, Ravikumar formally started his company Flowerpot Mobility Solutions. By October 2015, the company developed its first product — GreenPool. Endorsement from IT companies helped give the initial leg up and led to it registering more than 1,000 users in a month. But, the Chennai floods threw things out of gear.
“But, we were up and running soon after. By March 2016, we came out with the second version of GreenPool. And soon we clocked about 85 rides at Ascendas on a daily basis. We’re currently working with large IT companies to become their official carpooling platform. At present, we have 2,500 people on board and are working on gaining critical mass,” he says.
While their initial focus is on intra-city rides, they believe inter-city rides are something that will evolve naturally. Currently, one can hitch a ride for as low as Rs. 30 for up to 15 km and Rs. 50 for up to 60 km. “Initially, we calculated the cost on the basis of the type of vehicle, fuel usage, maintenance cost, distance and number of passengers. But, the drivers didn’t want a taxi service type calculation and so we simplified it.”
With the app being available on Android and iOS, a user can create and look for rides. It allows one the freedom of choosing who to ride with as well. One can also choose up to four locations for pickup and drop and the app will find a match.
GreenPool has a presence pan India, says Ravikumar. “To address the security aspect, we insist on the user entering a company mail id to which we send a mail. Only upon verification does anyone get enlisted. The app has a panic button too.”
The company is now a NASSCOM member. “We’ve been focussing on setting base city after city — Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai... Eventually, we hope to make a foray into Tier II cities as well,” he says.
