What Made WhatsApp Co-founder To Invest In This IoT Startup The company plans to deploy funds towards product development and business expansion.
By Samiksha Jain •
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Trak N Tell, a provider of customized telematics solutions to vehicle manufacturers as well as vehicle owners has raised an undisclosed amount from a bevy of global business leaders including the likes of Brian Acton, Co-Founder, WhatsApp. The company plans to deploy funds towards product development and business expansion. It seeks to hire passionate professionals in multiple verticals which include R&D, operations, and marketing.
Speaking on the funding, Brian Acton, Co-founder, WhatsApp said, "Pranshu has extremely interesting plans for the Indian automotive market and I'm very excited to help him scale his business further as an investor. I'm very pleased with the results of the company to date. It is great to be part of Trak N Tell."
Operated under Bits N Bytes Soft Private Limited, Trak N Tell currently provides a GPS product that enables car owners and fleet owners to track their vehicles and even immobilize them in case of a theft by simply tapping a button on their smartphone. It also allows for predictive engine failure, preventive maintenance notification, fuel monitoring system and more. Moreover, company's hardware has been designed to withstand the harsh environments of Indian roads.
Trak N Tell explores the rather nascent market for "Connected Cars' in the fast heating up space of "Internet of Things' (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications. The company creates innovative products to ensure the safety of passengers while traveling in their vehicle via the use of telematics and connected car technologies.
In the United States, the researcher IHS Automotive predicts that by 2017, 60 percent of all cars sold in the U.S. (about 10 million vehicles) will be connected to the internet. Globally, it is estimated that there are 23 million connected cars on the road today with projections for 152 million by 2020. Going by the above-mentioned estimates, the industry can grow by 150 per cent y-o-y.
"We are happy to see rising interest in the "Connected Cars' space in India. This funding is indicative of the same and a global appreciation of our attempt to endorse the #MakeInIndia initiative. We will be launching a superior safety solution for individual car and bike owners as compared to the present devices available in the market. Our aim is to offer an Indian version of connected cars that are available in Europe and North America. While the quality is in parity with international standards, our prices will be set in accordance to the Indian market," said Pranshu Gupta, CEO, Trak N Tell.
