Uber invests $10M in Indian fleet operator Carrum

Uber has invested $10 million in Carrum Mobility, an Indian fleet management startup, as part of a Series B round, according to founder and CEO Karan Jain. The deal reflects the ride-hailing giant’s growing reliance on large fleet operators to supply vehicles and drivers across India.

The new investment values Carrum at ₹16 billion (about $168 million) post-money, up from a post-money valuation of ₹6 billion (around $63 million) after Uber put in $7 million in January. Jain said Uber now holds a stake in the “mid-teens.”

Jain, a former McKinsey consultant who previously founded car-rental startup Revv, started Carrum in 2024 after Indian automotive marketplace CarDekho acquired Revv in 2023. CarDekho was also Carrum’s first investor and remains a backer.

Carrum now owns about 5,100 vehicles across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and Kolkata, and has onboarded more than 18,000 drivers. The startup is generating annualized revenue of about ₹4.3 billion (around $45 million), Jain said. Its fleet supplies Uber’s entry-level Go tier, the mid-range Premier tier, and the premium Black tier: about 70% of vehicles are hatchbacks for Go, around 10% are sedans for Premier, and about 20% are SUVs, largely deployed on Black. Carrum is Uber’s largest fleet partner for the Black tier in India, according to Jain, who added that Uber Black in the country operates exclusively through fleet partners because the service demands tighter control over vehicles, drivers, and service standards.

Financially, Carrum generated revenue of about ₹2.33 billion (around $24.5 million) in the year ended March 2026, up from around ₹620 million (about $6.5 million) a year earlier, while net profit rose to about ₹70 million (around $736,000) from about ₹35 million (about $368,000), Jain said. He added that Carrum’s borrowing costs — the startup typically finances vehicles with debt while funding about 10% to 15% of the purchase price upfront — have fallen about 40% over the past year, which he attributed to a stronger balance sheet, profitability, and Uber’s backing.

Over the next 12 months, Carrum plans to more than double its fleet to about 11,000 vehicles, expand into more cities, strengthen its technology platform, and hire as it scales. Jain said Carrum’s ambitions extend beyond India, with the startup eventually aiming to become a global fleet partner for Uber, though he declined to say whether the two companies have discussed expanding their partnership outside the country.

Why it matters

Uber’s reliance on dedicated fleet operators like Carrum for premium service tiers signals a broader shift in how the company plans to scale supply in India — and, if Carrum’s global ambitions materialize, potentially in other markets where fleet operators can offer more controlled service standards than individual drivers.