A data science startup — Railofy — that provides a travel guarantee to waitlisted or Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) train passengers, has raised ₹7 crore in seed funding from Chiratae Ventures.
The company is founded by three friends – Rohan Dedhia, Vaibhav Saraf, and Hrishabh Sanghvi in 2019, the startup claims to solve the waitlist problem in India that affects 300 million plus passengers travelling by the railways annually.
TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder & Managing Director of Chiratae Ventures India Advisors said, “As India becomes more aspirational, passengers will demand a more reliable experience while travelling by the railways. Railofy is working towards this by solving one of the biggest problems affecting railways – Waitlist due to Congestion.” Initial trials started in January on selected trains and the company saw a strong consumer interest with more than 600,000 visits on its website in just 1.5 months, says Dedhia.
Passengers can purchase the protection from Railofy’s portal against their ticket for an average price of around ₹200 (starting at ₹50). If the ticket is not confirmed post chart preparation, Railofy provides a flight close to the price of a train ticket or bus for nominal prices to the destination. The price for flight/bus options is fixed at the time of purchasing WL & RAC protection itself, thus ensuring that passengers are shielded from last-minute rising fares.
