MakeMyTrip buys majority stake in Quick Ride to enter ride pooling
What's the deal? MakeMyTrip has acquired a majority stake in Quick Ride, a Bengaluru-based ride-pooling platform, marking its entry into the shared mobility segment. The company did not disclose the transaction's value.
What does Quick Ride do? It is an asset-light platform that connects people travelling along similar routes, enabling affordable pooling for daily commutes. It runs an enterprise go-to-market model, with partnerships across corporates, IT parks, and business campuses.
How is it structured? The brand and its ride-pooling business were moved into a new entity, Co Ride Mobility Private Limited, which MakeMyTrip now controls. Quick Ride's promoters will continue to run the business; its former EV-taxi operation stays with the predecessor entity, iDisha Info Labs.
Why it fits: The deal gives MakeMyTrip a foothold in high-frequency daily commuting, complementing redBusDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s intercity buses and Savaari's car rentals. Quick Ride will sit under the group's ground transport business, led by redBus.
"We see an opportunity to jointly serve the same customer across more of their journeys, from the daily office commute to the weekend trip home," said Prakash Sangam, chief executive officer of redBus and head of ground transport.
Why now? The acquisition builds on a run of deals as MakeMyTrip expands across travel segments. Recent purchases include Savaari in car rentals, Happay in corporate expense management, and Flamingo Transworld in group holiday packages, plus a minority investment in visa-processing startup Atlys.
What's the endgame? Group chief executive officer Rajesh Magow said ride pooling gives the company a presence in both intra-city commutes and intercity travel. "Quick Ride will be housed under our ground transport business, and we will bring the learnings from building redBus, both in India and in overseas markets, to grow and scale the business," he said.
The signal: MakeMyTrip is stitching together an end-to-end ground transport stack, from buses to car rentals to daily commutes. The strategic logic is clear, but with no price or operating targets disclosed, the payoff depends on whether it can scale pooling and connect it to its wider platform.
Read more: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Image credit: heatheronhertravels
