If you want luxury car on rent contact – HYPE

Raghav, the founder of Hype has come up with the new concept in 2017. His startup is a Bangalore based and he with his sister started this venture of renting Luxury cars.

“Cars are my favourite toys. Working along the lines of Luxury cars is a dream come true for me”, says Raghav. 

We got an opportunity to talk with Raghav, the founders of Hype. And I am sure; his story will inspire you. Let’s look at his journey as a startup founder.

 

 

 

 

Give a brief info about your startup?

HYPE is a Bangalore based Tech startup and an online Marketplace for Luxury Car Rentals. Founded in 2017 the product was launched a few months ago in Indian market.

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

A couple of years ago, on my parents’ wedding anniversary, I wanted to hire a special car to take them for a special Lunch and I had one heck of a time searching for various vendors, brokers their prices and negotiations. And at the end when the car arrived it was a totally different car than agreed. So the entire experience dramatically shifted. This annoyed me but also kept me thinking that there must be a million others who must be facing the same issue. That probably is the reason I decided to start HYPE that integrates all the Luxury car rental providers on our platform and offer as a one-stop solution of Luxury car rentals to customers.

 

HYPE is one place where customers can rent cars for self-drive or chauffeur driven without any hassle. Convenience and affordability to rent luxury cars are the key USPs of HYPE.

 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate from N.I.E Mysore and my previous startup was in Switzerland in InsurTech space. Before that I worked for corporates such as Accenture, Infosys, Mercer, Wipro and Satyam. I managed global technology delivery in many parts of the world.

 

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

HYPE is a Bangalore based startup. Two reasons for choosing this location are 1. I am from Bangalore so it comes naturally to start in my hometown and 2. Undoubtedly Bangalore has the fantastic business opportunity and Tech savvy customers that rely on technology for opportunities like this.

 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

I am mostly thinking about Product innovation and Marketing. I am passionate about innovating product and that keeps me busy most of the time. I don’t lose my sleep over anything but yes, growth is an important aspect for me.

 

Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?

There are many players that are big and small in the Luxury car rental market but HYPE is a totally integrated system of Fantastic Luxury cars of a large variety and variants available for both Self Drive and Chauffeur driven. This is the key element of our business making it convenient for customers to choose different options from.

 

How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

I believe “work Life Balance” is more of a corporate theme and doesn’t apply to entrepreneurs. Since I am very passionate about what I am doing time is not a constraint and I enjoy every bit of this journey My family is very supportive of my work and I love spending time with them. Since work schedule is flexible I get to spend as much time as I want right in the midst of my work on any day.

 

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

I, along with my sister Vijaya Belavadi have seed funded on our own so far. She has invested about $200K until now. We may not need funding immediately and may be at a later time we have plans to raise large funding at once skipping the initial rounds.

 

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

Since we are still new to the Luxury car rental market and people have never experienced such a convenient system before, usually, they are not sure if a car will arrive when they pay online :-). Such a concern is understandable and only our branding and service quality (via good references) will gradually replace those opinions. It is not much of an issue in developed cities like Bangalore and Delhi thou.

 

What gets you excited about this company?

Cars are my favourite toys. Working along the lines of Luxury cars is a dream come true for me. Connecting with customers one-one, listening to them and constantly increasing our service quality excite me the most. We have some of the most reputed partners in the field that are constantly guiding me and also I am able to use my previous startup experience in here. Working with my talented team is something I enjoy every day.

 

 

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

I sleep for a few hours but mostly working on some innovative things with my Team and partners. I do meditation as the first thing in the morning, eat healthy and hit the Gym in the evening for an hour or so to beat fatigue. That gets me tired a bit and helps me get good sleep by midnight.

 

 

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

Initially, my team was just me and my sister. When I returned from Swiss, I shared my idea with my sister and it was an instant agreement to do this startup. Vijaya helps me in product reviews, contacts and a lot of encouragement (required at times). Now we have a few team members in different areas of Product Development and marketing.

 

 

 

Know a great startup story or want to share your own? Write to us at contact.bangaloreinsider@gmail.com and we will get back to you. For more updates follow Bangalore Insider on Facebook.