[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]hat more can a startup ask for if they are getting help from the biggest giant of the IT industry? Eric Shmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, has placed his bets on skyTran, a revolutionary transportation company founded by Ankur Bhatnagar.
The sole Indian co-founder of skyTran is a B. Tech engineer from IIT-Roorkee and a M. Tech from IIT-Kanpur. The amount of investment has not been revealed by Ankur but he says that Eric has invested in the Series-A round through Innovation Endeavors, his venture capital funds.
skyTran has developed a “third generation” transportation system which they claim will change the way public transport looks like. This is called as the Personal Rapid Transport. Ankur says that this mode of transport will be operational in India in the next 2 years and also hopes that it will change the way people look at India. [highlight ]He also mentions that skyTran can help passengers commute easily and reduce the travel time as it will transport passengers above the surface traffic.[/highlight] It will have a jet-like vehicle which will travel above the traffic.
When you are starting-off with something unique, you definitely need government support and skyTran is no different. [highlight ]Ankur is currently negotiating with the State Government and is discussing the opportunities to start in Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala.[/highlight]
Ankur who is designated as VP for skyTran in India, says that “The average speed of travel in cities is expected to be 120 km/hour. That means a user can expect to travel from Gurgaon to Noida in less than 25 minutes, for example. The speed of travel would be 250 km/hour on intercity routes. A journey between Delhi and Chandigarh or Delhi to Jaipur would just take an hour”. Well that’s impressive!
Check out the skyTran infographic to get a clear picture why they want to introduce this transportation facility:
Ankur has previously worked with Wipro and PwC and says that “I was hoping to start my venture in the public transportation space using mobiles and came across Malewicki’s idea and requested him to take me on board”.
Douglas Malewicki is a graduate of Aeronautical Engineering from University of Illinois and is also the investor of the company.
The whole idea of starting this revolutionary transportation service is to reduce congestion of traffic, reaching safely to your destination and most important- Pollution Control. [highlight ]A magnetic levitation will be used for the vehicle to ply and take the user to his personalized destination without stopping anywhere in between.[/highlight]