[TusharK]

Tata Motors Finance Holdings, a subsidiary of Tata Motors Limited has purchased 26% stake in TruckEasy - a Bangalore-based freight aggregator.



According to Tata Motors, the investment is expected to provide an insight into the new technologies that are being used in the logistics sector. It is also claimed to help the company understand the market dynamics of intra-city freight movement. Data analytics provided by TruckEasy will be used in the research and development of new products to cater to changing market requirements.

TruckEasy was founded in 2015 by Nikhil Thomas, Vikram Kodgi and Avinash Achar. It offers a cloud-based platform with real-time tracking and alerts for the transporting requirements of businesses within Bangalore. With the new investment, the company is now planning to expand its services to more cities.

Link to Team-BHP News

[SmartCat]

I have used a similar app called PORTER a couple of times. It works just like Ola or Uber and charges were very reasonable (around Rs. 250 for 10 km trip) for Tata Ace.



Fly in the ointment: You have to find people for loading and unloading. Driver helps if the items are not too heavy

[MaxTorque]

There is huge scope for the startups in this segment. Our trucking industry is going to benefit from this lot. With the evolution of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science truckers and customers, both can benefit from optimizing the truckloads, maximizing the revenue.

[GTO]

This is their website (am guessing truckeasy.in is another firm). Amount paid isn't mentioned, so am guessing its small. In fact, truckeasy itself seems to be a small firm and I'm wondering what Tata could gain from it.

Wish they had proof-read their homepage text before this news went live:

You can rent ("a" missing) Tata Ace, ("or" missing) Super Ace at the click of a button. (space after punctuation mark missing) Sign up today to find out how TruckEasy can make your life easy when it comes to transporting goods within the city.

Could this be about data? How much data could a tiny firm provide? Plus, Tata owns like 60% of the CV market. It can easily incentivise its existing customers to provide data.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by GTO

In fact, truckeasy itself seems to be a small firm and I'm wondering what Tata could gain from it. Could this be about data? How much data could a tiny firm provide? Plus, Tata owns like 60% of the CV market. It can easily incentivise its existing customers to provide data.

Yeah, Tata is essentially paying for data. From Tushar's post -

- Provide an insight into the new technologies that are being used in the logistics sector.
- Help the company understand the market dynamics of intra-city freight movement.
- Data analytics provided by TruckEasy will be used in the research and development of new products to cater to changing market requirements.

I'm pretty sure Tata speaks to its customers, but this is data on a different level (like data that Ola/Uber has).

I spoke to the Porter driver too -

- He gets 5 to 6 deliveries per day via Porter app
- Most of the customers are furniture & home furnishing stores. For them, I guess hiring Tata Ace via app works out much cheaper - like how Ola/Uber works out very well for passengers like us.
- Occasionally it is a techie bachelor who wants to move his stuff from one tiny apartment/room to another.

[Thebat]

Wow, this is news to me. I was all poised to join this firm the same time last year. Developed cold feet on joining such a small startup at the last minute. Nikhil is a gentleman and was regularly in touch until I declined.

Wishing them all the best and success for their future.

Coming to the purchase in stake, this might be a future proofing measure or to integrate a similar service into Tata's CV business. With a market that is poised for dynamic change it appears to be a forward thinking move that would hardly cost Tata much.