MakeMyTrip ties up with TaxiForSure to push car booking section

Nasdaq-listed OTA MakeMyTrip (MMT) has entered into a partnership with Bangalore-based online taxi aggregator TaxiForSure.com  to push its car booking section. As part of the deal, MMT will get access to TaxiForSure's inventory. Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder and director, TaxiForSure.com told Techcircle that it is a "mutually beneficial tie-up" without divulging details about revenue sharing in the partnership.

TaxiForSure is an aggregator of taxis and its services include local point to point taxis, airport transfer taxis, half-day/full-day packages and outstation packages. Besides regular taxis, it also provides booking for luxury cars like Rolls Royce Phantom, Hummer, Limousines, Jaguar, Audi A6, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S class, among others. After getting a foothold in the Bangalore market, it recently expanded services to Delhi region. However, with MMT it is currently offering the service only in Bangalore.  The service will be offered in Delhi and other cities soon.

In the cars' section on MakeMyTrip, upon selecting Bangalore as a city, users can get a listing of cab services available in which one can find TaxiForSure's inventory. Users can filter search through various parameters like AC/non-AC, seating capacity and more.

"We are positioning our product as probably the best in terms of value for money via MakeMyTrip. It is a win-win for both where they get the cheapest inventory and we get access to their customers," he said. On being asked whether TaxiForSure is looking at similar partnerships with other major OTAs Radhakrishna said, "MakeMytrip is very keen to promote its cars section this the partnership. We are open to a tie-up with others players as well but it depends on their market strategy as well."

TaxiForSure is backed by Accel Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Blume Ventures, from whom it raised an undisclosed seed round last year. In a conversation with Techcircle earlier, Radhakrishna had disclosed  that the startup is doing about 800-900 bookings  a day in Bangalore.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)