INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Google is increasing its efforts in India after it snapped up the team behind popular transportation app ‘Where is my Train.&
The app
claims 10 million registered users and, as the name suggests, it helps commuters track arrivals and departures as well as buying seats.That
no small job given that India is estimated to operate some 14,000 trains on a daily basis across the country
The app is for Android, it works offline or with poor connectivity and supports eight languages
It is rivaled by VC-backed companies likeRailYatri and iXigo.
There no official price for the deal, although India Economic Times is
reporting that it is in the region of $30-$40 million
The site reported on Google interest back in August, when it wrote that other suitors included Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi
A Google spokesperson confirmed the deal to TechCrunch, but declined to provide a price.
Sigmoid Labs, the company that develops the train
app, was founded by four former TiVo executives in 2013
Economic Times reports that it has around 10 staff
It is unclear how much money it has raised to date.
The companytold customersnews of the acquisition on its website earlier today.
&We can
think of no better place to help us achieve our mission, and we&re excited to join Google to help bring technology and information into more
people hands,& its founders wrote.
Google said thatthe Where is my Train team would &continue to build on the current offering,&so it seems
that the app won&t be shuttered, immediately at least.
The service significant userbase would suggest that Google might look to develop and
expand its scope to perhaps touch on other areas
Ride-hailing apps, for example, have moved into adjacent spaces including entertainment, payments and food delivery to take advantage of
their position as daily apps.
That all conjecture at this point
But it also stands to reason that Google could fold it into other apps, including Google Maps, although that certainly isn&t the plan at
this point.
Screenshots of Where is my Train Android app from the Google Play Store
The deal falls under Google ‘Next Billion User&
divisionwhich is developing products and services to help increase internet adoption in emerging markets
To date that has focused strongly on India where Google has developed data-friendly ‘lite& versions of popular apps like YouTube, and
initiatives like public WiFi for India rail network that used by over eight million people.
That scope has also covered services, with
Google looking at apps that provide information and utility to Indian consumers
Google launched an on-demand appand a mobile payment service last year, and this year it released a neighborhood QA service
TheWhere is my Train deal certainly fits that strategy and you&d imagine it&ll become a core part of Google consumer-facing product line in
India.
The deal is also one of the most significant to date for a U.S-based tech firm in India
Facebook, Twitter, Google and even Yahoo have made acquisitions to build teams or acquire talent butWhere is my Train seems significantly
more strategic as a product.
