India's first fuel delivery startup MyPetrolPump raises $1.6 Mn in seed round

Touted as India's first-ever door-to-door fuel delivery startup, MyPetrolPump has raised $1.6 million in a seed funding round.

The company, prior to making a pitch at Y Combinator, has managed to pick up the aforementioned round. However, the name of other investors who have participated in the round couldn't be ascertained. Usually, Y Combinator put in $150K in startups that become a part of its cohort.

An Entrackr's query to MyPetrolPump did not elicit a response till the time of publication.

A brainchild of ISM Dhanbad alumnus Ashish Kumar Gupta, the Bengaluru-based startup has been looking for funds from the central government initiative to support startups in the oil and gas sector.

With an aim to provide on-demand fuel delivery service as well as to detect and reduce fuel adulteration, MyPetrolPump had launched its operations in June 2017.

Running on bootstrap money, MyPetrolPump currently has five refueling vehicles in its fleet and counts 2,000 users in its metrics. Now, it's working with a manufacturing partner to make 20-30 refuelers to roll out initial servicesa. And further, it needs hundreds of such refueller vehicles to fulfill the overall demand in the city.

Recognised by the government of India under Startup India policy for innovation in technology and processes adopted in the doorstep delivery of fuel, the startup charges Rs 99 for up to 100 litres of diesel for a single delivery.

A customer can order the fuel through MyPetrolPump app, website, or by making a direct call to the firm.

Apart from MyPetrolPump, Delhi-based PepFuel is another startup which has signed a tripartite agreement with Indian Oil for doorstep delivery of fuel.

Recently, Reliance Industries (RIL), along with state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as Indian Oil, BPCL, and HPCL, was planning on starting on-demand fuel delivery services.

RIL, in collaboration with any of these partners, will add at least 500 doorstep fuel delivery vehicles and will soon be issuing advertisements to select startups and entrepreneurs who are interested to join the initiative.

Besides, 10 oil and gas PSUs have come together to launch over Rs 300 crore startups fund. ONGC alone will contribute Rs 100 crore to the fund.

The idea of providing on-demand fuel delivery has been facing many hurdles including regulatory norms and a funding crunch. However, the government's recent move to bring startups under their umbrella will definitely add more powers to their idea.

Update: The story and headline has been changed after getting inputs from industry experts.

The development was reported by TechCrunch.