The need for mobility led to Royal Brothers, the first rental bike company

Royal Brothers are currently operational in Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Telangana as a one-of-a-kind bike rental service. For Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh, RB was the first company with a bike rental license. It started in a college cafeteria and was officially established in Bangalore, India’s start-up capital, in 2015. Back in 2015, as Bangalore engineering students, Abhishek Chandrashekar and Akash S were friends who were looking for the next best start-up concept. They realized on a trip to Pondicherry that the need for mobility was strong, especially for tourists or day-trippers in the city. That’s when they decided to start Royal Brothers, a reliable bike rental company that would cater to customers looking for quality, pocket-friendly mobility. Early on, their core conviction that a sharing economy can be built with the idea of ‘why buy when you can rent’ struck a chord with the investor group. Angel investors participated in the primary and secondary funding rounds in 2019, bringing the company from bootstrap to a financed venture. Three co-founders are present: Abhishek Chandrashekar, co-founder and CEO, Akash S, co-founder and CTO, and Kuldip Purohit, co-founder and CBO.

The idea came from: An unresolved problem is mobility in India. Although the nation is the world’s largest purchaser of two-wheelers, the issue of quality mobility remains a concern. The issue of repairs, insurance, and restricted car use ends up being limiting for those who can afford mobility.

USP: In 7 Indian states and 40+ Indian cities, Royal Brothers is the only bike rental company present. Currently, in three of these states, they were the first to receive a commercial license. They sell 20+ different CC scooters, motorcycles, and superbikes to customers. The client has the option of renting short-term and long-term bikes. Royal Brothers claim the Royal Brothers, from sourcing to asset servicing, is a supply chain. They do everything in-house, including car repairs, and under their management is the supply chain. With regard to the common space of mobility, at one point or another in their lives, they have often made use of it. Their concept was to build mobility through cities and accessibility. Their inventory, depending on the mobility needs of that area, is generated differently for different cities. The aim of Royal Brother is to bring comfort to individuals, to be pocket-friendly and secure, and reliable service.

Challenges: CEO Abhishek and CTO Akash S were still engineering students, they initially found it difficult to pick the right co-founders and the right team to work with, they had the idea of bike rentals. The idea is to have members of the team who share the same vision and objective and whose contributions help them to gain momentum and move in the right direction. So, they took it as a challenge, and they’re still working on their team building.

Future: They mainly constitute a shared mobility service. Currently, Royal Brothers are building a market that did not exist before and educating it. Millennials, who are changing and adjusting and do not want to get into long-term relationships by owning properties, are their target audience. They’re a pocket-friendly, reliable service that helps riders to own two-wheelers in the short-term.

Success: Recently, Royal Brothers took up the #RBForWomen campaign. Since we performed a root cause study, this began as a social cause for why there are only 5% female bike riders. And they realized that the false stereotype that women are unable to manage bikes came from. So they needed women to be qualified to ride motorcycles. For this, they carried out two successful events that sold out in 24 hours, where experienced riders from the Indian biking community taught their female participants to ride two-wheelers, starting from scooters and finishing the Royal Enfields riding sessions. They realized that women have a legitimate interest and the opportunity to ride like any other professional and only need the initial drive to get out on the open road, combined with quality training.

Goal: Their next move is to use a predictive maintenance method called Artificial Intelligence (AI). Royal Brothers would like to make in-roads in 10 more cities in India as well.