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Clear Car Rental: An Offbeat Startup that Received Nationwide Recognition

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In this era of stress-laden life, we start working as a machine the moment we set off our foot from the bed. And while we hurry to reach office in time, the unreliable services of public transport are the real disappointment. In this scenario, online car booking seems like a silver lining and saves our day.

Clear Car Rental is one such online car booking platform that provides the best rental services across India. A vast range of services is offered by Clear Car Rental which includes one day trip, round trip, travelling to different cities, far-ranging packages etc.

sachin kate
Image Source: Facebook
Founder of Clear Car Rental

Sachin Kate, a 28-year-old Indian fellow, is the founder of Clear Car Rental Pvt. Ltd. He is from Maharashtra, who is currently expanding his business by providing services in more than 210 cities in India.

Early life

Born into an economically weak family, in a small village of Marathwada, achieving success was never really a piece of cake for Kate. There were no schools in his village that provided education after standard 4. But this could not kill his determination to chase his dreams. So, after completing the 4th standard, he moved out of his place to a nearby village to complete his high school education. But this wasn’t easy either. Since his parents were mere farmers, the financial crisis was a common thing in his family. He started selling newspapers to fund his own education, and when he was in standard 11, he bagged himself a job, in a computer institute. He worked there as an office boy, but he never missed a chance to learn and explore more. Seeing his great flair for computers, the owner upgraded him as an instructor the very next year.

Since his parents were mere farmers, the financial crisis was a common thing in his family. He started selling newspapers to fund his own education, and when he was in standard 11, he bagged himself a job, in a computer institute. He worked there as an office boy, but he never missed a chance to learn and explore more. Seeing his great flair for computers, the owner upgraded him as an instructor the very next year.

After passing out from high school, he shifted to Aurangabad to pursue his higher studies. Since he needed to sponsor his own education, he found himself a part-time job in a travel agency. This is the time when the idea of establishing his own business clicked his mind. While working with the travel agency, he became quite susceptible to the ideas and strategies of how the business worked. This was the stepping stone towards his success.

Career

Initially, Kate began by creating a few travel websites by means of the technical knowledge he gained during the course of his high school. Then he, eventually, delved deeper into the colossal domain of travelling and learned more about it. After thorough research and analysis, he realized that travel by road wasn’t developed enough in India, though the tourism industry was rapidly expanding and flourishing. And, if this mode of transportation was enhanced, it would gain more customers, since it would be cheaper than transportation by air. Seeing this as a golden opportunity to bring a bigger change in the field of tourism, he made his mind to establish an online car rental service company. Thus, in 2011, he founded Clear Car Rental Service with a team of four members. This is when he crossed the threshold of his path and aimed for reaching its pinnacle.

With time passing by, the company expanded, and by 2013, the team had more than 100 people working in different sectors, like creating travel packages, online marketing, business development and other fields. It took no time for the company to carve a niche in the sphere of Indian travel and tourism, serving customers in more than 200 cities. Today, the company owns around 14000 cabs that are ready to serve their customers with the utmost care and comfort. Though the company provides services in all major cities, including the metropolis, it is focusing more on small towns to create more convenience for common people. The company has also launched a beta version of their online car booking system to enhance the user experience and make it easier to use.

Kate understands very well that in a developing country like India, every corner of it must get access to transportation to help it grow faster. His strategic mind and sheer determination to create something of his own led him to where he is today, thus curving his own future.

Belonging to a poor family like his, nobody expects of having such exposure and gain fame in the real world, due to lack of inspiration, financial and moral support. But Kate here sets a perfect example, breaking the orthodoxy of the society and proves that if you have the knowledge, and you are ready to work hard, you can achieve your dreams. And the most awe-inspiring fact about Kate’s success is that he didn’t borrow any money from his friends or family, or asked any banks for investments.

The future of the company

Though the company has set a remarkable bar in the business of rental service, the team wishes to provide even better services and launch products that will create wonders both in the car rental and tourism industry.

Sony Introduces New Ride-hailing Service in Tokyo, Launches S.Ride App Powered by AI

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The conglomerate company Sony has been a leader in various fields of technological product manufacturing. From video games to smartphones, and from television to home appliances, the company has marked its name in all those fields. But now with its new S.Ride app, the company is stepping into the business of taxi-hailing service.

sony s.ride
Image Source: trendingonlinenow.in

The company has launched a taxi-hailing service in Japan, along with an app, i.e. S.Ride app, through which the users will be able to hire a taxi for them. Though the service is a similar car-rental service to Uber and other car-rental services, the app is the main attraction of this service.

According to the advertisement, the company has produced for the service, the S in the S.Ride does not stand for Sony, but it refers to “simple”, “smart” and “speedy”. The app is based on AI technology, and the UI of the app works on the sliding gesture. According to Sony, the app with the help of artificial intelligence is able to figure out the area with the most demand for the taxis, and this way the driver can be sent to that very location.

Though the ride-sharing service is banned in Japan, and Uber is one of the leading taxi-hailing services of the country, Sony is likely to become popular in the field really soon, as it has partnered with five other leading taxi-hailing services of Japan. The app is officially launched by Minna no Taxi, a joint venture launched by Sony Corporation, Sony Payment Services and several Japanese taxi companies, last year.

Currently, Sony’s taxi-hailing service will be available only in Tokoyo, with over 10,000 taxis available for hire. The company has provided the S.Ride users with various payment option, including through cash, credit/debit card and digital wallets.

Sony had made an announcement about starting the car-hailing service, last year in the month of February. The company has never been in providing services but is a leader in the hardware manufacturing and supply. After Sony’s new CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, took his position in the company last April, the company has been trying its hands in selling content and the services to its users.

Cheng Wei : The Founder of China’s Biggest Transport Network DiDi Dache

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China has been the home for many startups and innovators including Jack Ma, the founder of the biggest eCommerce giant Alibaba Group, and Lei Jun, the founder of Xiomi. Another tech innovator who hails from China is Cheng Wei, the founder of China’s biggest autonomous technology conglomerate, DiDi. Wei is one of the fastest grown CEO in China and is often counted among the top three most successful CEOs in China.

Cheng Wei was born on 19 May 1983, in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, in Shangrao, China. He completed a graduate degree in administration from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and after graduating, joined as the assistant of the head at a foot massage company. Soon he realized that this is not the job he always intended to do, and after working for a period of one year at the company applied for the job of a salesperson for the business-to-business e-commerce service at Alibaba.

Cheng Wei
Image Source: fortune

Joining Alibaba proved to be a good decision for Wei, and in the span of six years, he was promoted to various positions in the company. He became the sales manager for the north of China. After six years he was appointed as the deputy general manager at the online payment department, Alipay, in Alibaba, becoming the youngest regional manager in the company.

In 2012, Wei left Alibaba to found his own company Beijing Orange Technology Co, and the first service that he started under the name of the company was DiDi Dache, a transportation service, with an initial capital of worth 15 million dollars from the tech giant Tencent. This car-rental service was a result of his experience with the cabs, as he had missed many flights due to as he could not catch the cabs on time.

People could use the service through an app and get an immediate pickup. The app also included a feature that allowed the users to book the cabs for the next day.

In 2013, the company completed its Series B funding, followed by a series C funding in 2014. In the same year, DiDi Dache appointed the ex-Goldman Sachs Asia managing director, Jean Liu (Liu Qing), as the as COO of the company.

In February 2015, DiDi Dache merged with the other major mobile-based transportation network Kuaidi Dache, making DiDi Kuaidi, keeping the management separate. In July 2015, the company had fundraising, which made it the world’s first private company having completed the largest single fundraising round and raised a worth of US$2 billion.

The company provides hiring service for cars, bus, minibus, chauffeur service, car rental service, bike-sharing service and has got over 10,000 employees working for the company. In 2013, Uber entered China, but DiDi maintained the strongest hold on the transportation market in China. In September 2015, Didi Kuaidi rebranded itself as Didi Chuxing

According to Wei, Artificial Intelligence is the next big thing, and his company is working on the very technology to bring new ideas and technology to DiDi. In 2017, the company started expanding in the other parts of the world starting from Brazil. Also, the company has invested in the other car-rental services like Grab, Lyft, Ola, Uber, 99, Taxify and Careem. The company currently is serving 550 million users across over 400 cities.

Wei is known as a Nationalist and many times has been heard of addressing China’s history and military in his speeches at big conferences. In September 2015, he got the chance to join China’s leader Xi Jinping, to visit the U.S. and attend the 8th U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum (USCIIF) and become the youngest person to participate in the forum.

The employees of his company see him as the greatest leader who is confident and knows how to deal with every situation. Despite the big rivalry between Tencent and Alibaba, he has been able to maintain a calm relationship between the two investors of his company.

In 2015, he was named in the list of “40 under 40” for the Chinese Business Leaders by Fortune. And in the same year, he was at number 1 in the list of China’s “40 under 40” along with Jean Liu. In 2016, he was named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year. In 2017, Time listed him among the 20 Most Influential People in Tech and was named one of the Global Game Changers by Forbes. In 2018 Forbes China named him among the 50 Most influential business leaders in China.