User:Neerajgupta24/sandbox

Neeraj Gupta (born 24 February 1973) is an Indian Entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of India’s first ride-hailing company Meru Mobility Tech Pvt. Ltd. He is known for revolutionizing the Indian cab industry through his pioneering venture Meru Cabs that was started in Mumbai with a fleet of 50 cabs in 2007.

Early Life
Neeraj was born on 24 February 1973 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. A Commerce Graduate from Mumbai University, Neeraj began his journey as an entrepreneur with an automobile garage called ‘Elite Class’

Career
Neeraj is a first-generation entrepreneur. He started his entrepreneurial journey in 1998 with ‘Elite Class’- an automobile garage with Rs. 50,000. In 1999, Neeraj formed a new company called V-Link Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. to offer bus services for employee transportation to Tata Infotech Ltd. He invested Rs.14 lakhs of his own money to buy his first bus. Within no time, V-Link expanded it's business and provided services to a few of the top blue-chip clients in the BPO sector. By 2006, V-Link became one of the largest People Mobility company in India with a fleet of 1500 vehicles and presence in all major metros in India. In the initial years of his career, Neeraj dabbled with many business ventures such as textile manufacturing (1997), wrought iron furniture (2001), paper bag manufacturing (2002), Freshkins Foods India Pvt. Ltd. (2013)A farm to fork supply chain distributed to directly to urban households through Modified Vans & Franchised retail shops.

Meru Cabs
In August 2006, Maharashtra government invited tenders for running a fleet of 10,000 air-conditioned, GPS-linked, electronic metered taxis in Mumbai in an attempt to replace the already existing black-yellow cabs (Kaali-peeli taxis). It was during this time that Neeraj Gupta raised money from True North (Formerly known as India Value Fund Advisors), a VC company to form Meru. With initial funding of INR 50 crores, Meru was launched in Mumbai offering AC cabs to India for the first time, with electronic meters and GPS/GPRS system cabs via the call booking system. In a short time, Meru scaled up its services to the top 4 cities of India with a fleet of 5000 cabs by 2010. With updated technology and to expand the services, customers could book cabs online via Web Browsers or Mobile Apps. Meru is one of the largest mobility brands in India with a presence in over 24 cities. Over the years the company has launched brands MERUBIZ and MERSPOT In December 2019, Mahindra & Mahindra invested in Meru to create India’s finest EV led Business Mobility Platform for enterprises and business travellers. The company also operates a fleet of Electric Vehicles under the brand Meru EVGO & GLYD (A premium rideshare initiative of Mahindra & Mahindra)

Other Ventures
Motor Education and Training Association (META) Neeraj Gupta commenced Motor Education and Training Association (META) in the year 2013 to provide skilling & livelihood opportunities in Urban Mobility Sector and work towards improving awareness on ‘Road Safety’ in India. Meta has till date trained over 15000 drivers and 3000 women drivers across 11 States in 68 Districts of India through various Government projects, Corporate Training and CSR Projects.

Awards
During his journey of nearly two decades, Mr Neeraj Gupta has been felicitated with multiple Entrepreneurial Awards: ❖	Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Bombay Management Association (BMA) ❖	Udyog Rattan Award by the Institute of Economic Studies (IES) ❖	Excellence Award to his company given by Institute of Economic Studies (IES) ❖	All India Passengers Association - Largest & Best Taxi Company in the Country ❖	Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award from All India Passengers Association ❖	Best IT User Award to Meru Cab Company Pvt. Ltd. - Nasscom - 2008, 2009, 2010 ❖	Express Intelligent Enterprise Awards in Retail & Consumer Products Category - 2010 ❖	Enterprise Awards in Champion CIO category - 2010 ❖	Blomberg UTV- CHO-CIO of the year - 2010 ❖	InformationWeek Edge - 2010 ❖	CSI - Excellence in IT - 2011 ❖	Times Honour Award - 2012 ❖	CSI Gold Award - 2013 ❖	Express IT Biz Awards - 2013 ❖	TripAdvisor Traveller's Choice - 2013& 2014 ❖	CIO 100 Honoree by CIO Magazine - 2013 & 2015