Trevel Enters the Cab War, Eggoz Fallout, and Flipkart's Regulatory Win

Every once in a while, a startup space becomes so chaotic, so broken, so impossible to fix that only two kinds of players remain: those who have nothing to lose, and those who have infinite money. India’s ride-hailing market has finally reached that point. Ola and Uber have stagnated. BluSmart collapsed under its own idealism. Rapido rewrote the consumer playbook by breaking every norm. And now, into this street fight walks Trevel - backed by the Jindal family, armed with capital, patience, and a fleet-first mobility vision that startups simply could never afford.

Trevel’s pitch is simple but bold: high-quality cars, owned fleet, salaried drivers, predictable service, transparent pricing, and airport-dominated demand. It is the anti-Ola, anti-Uber play; a throwback to the Meru era, except with deeper pockets and better timing. And timing is everything. Consumers are fed up. No-show drivers, surge pricing that feels like extortion, app instability, vehicle quality slipping, and customer support that barely exists. The two-player duopoly has taken advantage of India’s dependence for too long. The market was begging for a shake-up.

But before celebrating, let’s acknowledge reality: this sector destroys companies. BluSmart burned through more than ₹1,000 crore trying to build the cleanest, calmest mobility experience India had ever seen. India loved the concept; BluSmart just couldn’t survive the capital cycles, EV downtime, charging bottlenecks, and economics of three-hour airport dead miles. Urban mobility is a margin-killer.

Trevel thinks it can solve this through discipline: asset ownership, standardised cars, strict driver shifts, and controlled operating zones. That sounds smart until you realise owned fleets die without scale. Uber succeeded globally by offloading asset risk onto gig workers. Rapido succeeded by going even lighter. Trevel is going the other way - adding weight in a market where weight usually kills you.

So why does this model have a chance now? Because Trevel is not pretending to be a mass mobility play. It is attacking only the profitable corner: airport rides and corporate mobility. That is where India actually pays. Airport demand is predictable, ticket sizes are large, customers aren’t bargaining on every kilometre, and the market still suffers from embarrassing service gaps.

Trevel wants to own this pain point. And if it succeeds, it rewrites how mobility should actually scale in India: vertically, not horizontally.

But the airport and corporate mobility segment already has a underbelly of prepaid, pre-scheduled operators like Shoffr, Snap-E Cabs, GrEL, Savaari, CarterX, QuickRide’s corporate cab arm, and a dozen regional operators who’ve been doing this for years. These players operate with lean fleets, low overheads, and hyper-local expertise that Trevel can’t yet replicate. But their biggest weakness is scale — most are city-limited, operationally thin, and unable to build brand recall beyond their niche. Trevel’s entry threatens to bulldoze that entire layer with deep pockets.

But the part that makes Trevel truly dangerous is the Jindal mindset — long-term capital that doesn’t panic, doesn’t chase vanity metrics, and doesn’t need flashy valuation markups to justify survival. Ola and Uber are now publicly judged. Rapido is privately efficient. But Trevel is privately patient. And patience is a luxury mobility companies rarely possess.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: this market doesn’t need another app. It needs someone with the financial stamina to outlive the chaos. That’s why Trevel matters. Not because it is innovative. But because it is stubborn. Because it is loaded. Because it can afford to bleed where others simply tapped out.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Ande Ka Funda”: In Eggoz Controversy, FSSAI To Verify Safety Of Eggs

In the Eggoz controversy, the FSSAI has asked its regional offices to collect and test samples of both branded and unbranded eggs to verify food safety claims.

The move follows a viral video by influencer Trustified alleging that Eggoz eggs contained the carcinogenic nitrofuran metabolite AOZ above the permitted LOQ of 0.4, triggering public concern. Eggoz maintains its eggs are safe, with the final word now resting in regulatory labs.

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“Mai Ghar Wapas Aaunga”: Flipkart Gets In-Principle Nod From NCLT For Reverse Flip To India

Flipkart has secured an in-principle nod from the NCLT for its long-anticipated reverse flip to India, with the tribunal sanctioning a Scheme of Merger by Amalgamation in an order dated December 12.

Under the plan, Singapore-based entities such as Flipkart Health, QuickRoutes International, and Flipkart Marketplace will be merged into the Indian parent.

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“Ab Hogi Kranti”: 3D printing startup Tvasta, CEPT University launch platform

3D printing startup Tvasta has partnered with CEPT University to launch a national platform focused on advancing construction technology in India.

As part of the collaboration, CEPT will set up an additive manufacturing workshop at its Ahmedabad campus with a robotic arm supplied by Tvasta. The facility will support research into concrete 3D printing, structural systems, and large-scale prototyping.

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“Swagat Nahi Karoge Humara”: Jindal Group enters urban mobility with Trevel to take on Ola, Uber, Rapido

The Jindal Group has stepped into India’s urban mobility race with Trevel, a chauffeur-driven cab service taking on Ola, Uber, and Rapido in city and airport travel.

Launched by Sahil Jindal, the idea was shaped by conversations around what riders still find missing in today’s ride-hailing experience. Based in Gurugram, Trevel has already been operating over the past month, choosing soft wheels over loud launches.

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1. Premium watch startup Rotoris has raised $3 Mn in a funding round led by Nikhil Kamath and Venture Catalysts, with participation from over 30 Indian startup founders including Mamaearth’s Varun Alagh and Noise’s Gaurav Khatri. The fresh capital will be used to strengthen manufacturing and product engineering.

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2. Spacetech startup Sisir Radar has raised $7 Mn, about ₹63.5 Cr, in a Series A round led by 360 ONE Asset with participation from Shastra VC. The capital will power the launch of its India-built L-band SAR satellite by 2026, moving the company from prototypes to full-scale orbital missions serving defense and intelligence.

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