With the rising levels of pollution and vehicles on the road, people of our country decided to make things better and bring change in how things were going on. Some people began carpooling service, whereas others chose to take public transport or app-based cabs like Uber and Ola. But this wasn’t enough to solve the problem for people; these were just a few problems that people faced.
Finding pool rides at lower fares, trips that provided door-to-door shopping logistics services, or cabs that had wheelchair options, these were some of the significant problems for the city. Getting such services during rush hour is a tough task, and witnessing these problems, two lads from Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand decided to take matters in their own hands and built there startup – PikMe. Prashant and Prabhat Singh’s platform decided to provide location-based services through the app, which helps in offering nearest sources for consumption, rides, shopping, SOS, transit, and market place. One of the significant issues was of women’s safety, and to help with this, they introduced public SOS in rides.
The duo also decided to address the issues of drivers and fleet owners as in the past few years, agitation was seen among drivers and cab owners. PikMe is still a beta program, and soon, it will be made available to a broader public. Retail shops in the market that were making big bucks in the past are now struggling to keep up with the bigger ecosystem, and the founders wish to make things better for them.
The startup journey
Born and brought up in Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand, Prabhat Singh did his schooling and then pursued B.Tech in Energy Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Then he worked with several multi-national companies like Standard Chartered Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capco, UBS, and then finally decided to enter the entrepreneur world with his startup, PikMe.
Prashant Singh, on the other hand, did his B.Sc. in Agriculture, Agriculture Operations and further did PGDM in Agriculture Business Management from URICM, Gandhinagar. He also entered the banking line by starting with HDFC Bank, then RBL Bank, TIM, and later finally he co-founded SOLYD and PikMe.
Functioning of PikMe
In conversation with TimesNext, Prashant tells us that PikMe is a smart mobile application that would be used to deliver unified logistics for a semi-planned and on-demand marketplace. PikMe is offering the solutions for transit agencies that utilize them or other unorganized fleet providers that include verticals like insurance, hospitality, retail, and corporate logistics.
PikMe Public Transit
The market is dominated by big names when it comes to the taxi booking industry, and due to this, small fleet businesses are struggling with this increasing competition. The application provides the drivers with a fixed cost business model that would help them get more rides at a reasonable price. The app provides an admin console for the fleet owners with which they can add more drivers, vehicles, rental service, booking for corporates, etc. The admin has the power to set their prices for different cars in the fleet, and they enable the fleets to serve larger masses.
Only a few fleet owners have the applications, whereas the rest of them are running the business manually. Developing and maintaining an app for small fleets is a costly affair, and the team at PikMe wants to be the savior for such fleet owners by providing them a budget solution with excellent quality. They also have SOS service for women’s safety and passenger’s safety.
PikMe Local Market
With PikMe Local Market, the platform is providing a platform for retail shop owners where they can update their inventory with information like price, brand, color, options, size, picture of the product and its description. This would allow the buyers to search for items from the local market, and buyers will have opportunities to choose from window shopping and touch and feel.
Challenges in outset and plans for collaborations
Coming up with a solution for a complicated problem like this was a challenge for the company. The team of experts with their innovative and creative ideas made it possible for them to reach a smart application solution for their problems.
Currently, the company is planning to expand its horizon as they are talking with some companies in India and the U.S. with confirmation from three companies.
The first milestone for PikMe
The first milestone for them was when Prabhat Singh planned the development of an application with a fantastic user experience, which gave them a functional PikMe suite. The second milestone achieved by them was when they completed the trial run with Maruti Mobility Management in the U.S.
The current growth of the company and its vision
The company has just completed the field trial in the U.S. with Maruti Mobility Management at San Antonio, and the company has decided to take it to the next level. PikMe is also receiving a good response from the market, and the platform is now available on Google Play and Appstore for download.
The company started with the vision to provide infinitely scalable logistics solutions for smart cities to meet their needs in a way that is affordable and efficient for them. These solutions would make the cities safer, smarter, and make them better for living.
