Kerala startup’s smart solution to mounting parking woes

Started by Kerala-based young entrepreneurs in the US in 2015, way.com is a one-stop destination for all auto needs, which is now employing more than 250 professionals in its backup office in Thiruvananthapuram and another 100 in the US.

Sitting in a modest office in Technopark, Kerala’s IT hub in the capital, Smitha Balakrishan is busily allotting a parking space to one of her customers in San Francisco in the United States, and her colleague Liji Thomas is arranging an instant car wash for another in New York.

Started as a small set-up, the firm, which provides a bouquet of auto services, says it has seven million customers in the US and planning to spread its wings to many countries, including India.

Started by Kerala-based young entrepreneurs in the US in 2015, way.com is a one-stop destination for all auto needs, which is now employing more than 250 professionals in its backup office in Thiruvananthapuram and another 100 in the US.

Started as a small set-up, the firm, which provides a bouquet of auto services, says it has seven million customers in the US and planning to spread its wings to many countries, including India.

Responsible parking is its USP, and downloading the app is free.

The company says, in the US, 850,000 carjacking cases occur in a year, and it endeavours to check lawlessness on streets by entrusting vehicles in safe hands.

CEO Binu T Girija said the idea was conceived when he was working at Oracle in Silicon Valley in California.

“Parking was a big hassle, and many of us stopped taking out our vehicles altogether. This forced me and my friends to sit up and think. Finally, we hit upon the way.com idea. Though it was started in the US, my country was always in my mind, and we set up our Indian office in Thiruvananthapuram in 2018,” he said.

Binu said way.com is planning to expand in a big way, and it will hire 1000 engineers globally this year, with a big share from India.

“We are in consultation with a couple of firms to enter the Indian market by next year. We also plan to go for an IPO. We are aware in India parking is not that organised and systematic, but things are slowly falling in line. As vehicles multiply we need a good system,” he said.

Speaking on the firm’s revenue, way.com’s India head K S Balagopal said, “Our business developers contact airports, malls, public utility places, railway stations, hotels and other important places and take their parking lots in bulk at a competitive price. They are also happy because we introduce a system and run it perfectly. We take a commission from them and provide service to customers without any hassle.”

Besides parking slots, way.com provides many auto needs for car users like insurance, roadside assistance, car wash, locating gas stations, electric vehicle charging, auto finance and other services. It says it has 10,000 parking locations in the US, now selling more than 125,000 parking slots.

“We use the most modern tech and artificial intelligence in our app. Once a user clicks our app quickly studies the size of the vehicle and other details and allots convenient parking next to his destination. A charge will be deducted automatically. And we have flexible and dynamic rates also,” said Balagopal adding it s a full-fledged platform for all car-related services in the US now.

“For short duration to monthly parking, we have different slabs. By next year we are planning ten million customers. Our last year’s valuation was ₹2400 crore. Though there is a demand to include other vehicles, we are concentrating only on cars now,” said Binu (45), adding he is quite optimistic about Indian entry.

Unbridled urbanisation has triggered many problems, and finding ample parking the car is one among them. Many make several rounds and detours, and often it creates road rage cases and drains enough time and fuel of motorists. The auto fintech app way.com says it is there to ease their problems.

“As a startup, we are taking only fresh recruits. They are charged with ideas, and we can mould them properly,” said Balagopal adding his firm is one of the fastest-growing start-ups with a sound base in the state. Kerala has a fertile climate for startups, and in the recent global startup eco-system report state has been ranked first in affordable talent in Asia.