IT Person of the Year
Bhavish Aggarwal is a young digital entrepreneur who has blazed a trail in a hotly contested $12 B cab services market in India. The journey of his company had humble beginnings in 2011 from a 1 BHK office in Powai, Mumbai but it now boasts of mega headquarters in Bengaluru.
His company continues to raise billions in funding, raising its valuation to many times over the $1B unicorn mark. The company continues to invest in expansion and innovation, but more importantly, it uses the funds to take on its fiercest global competitor, over whom it already has the lead. The company’s innovation in creating localized products has forced its fiercest rival to follow suit and launch similar products.
The company is chasing global dreams. In February this year, the company launched operations in Australia, in Perth and this month forayed into Sydney. The company has also set up teams in Colombo and Dhaka, though it’s yet to start services there. It is said that he met London Mayor Sadiq Khan, during his India visit in December. Starting a cab services business in London may be difficult though, but if the company is able to establish its service there, it might be a big boost for the company’s overseas plans.
In terms of innovation, his company is all set to roll out electric vehicles across key cities in India and this move is aimed towards building a more sustainable transport solution in the country. The start-up, which is present in 110 cities across India, plans to invest heavily in artificial intelligence technology and penetrate new areas of the country.
Born in 1985 in Ludhiana, he completed a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2008. He began his career with Microsoft Research where he worked for two years, and during which time he filed two patents and published three papers in international journals. He set up ANI Technologies in 2011 along with his friend, Ankit Bhati, and within the next four years, the duo was the youngest to be included in that year’s list of richest Indians.
He’s the man who changed the landscape of public transport in India.
For his entrepreneurial spirit in and the daring dream, for his belief in using digital technology to transform life for billions of Indians and for achieving scale and market leadership, Dataquest presented the IT Person of the Year 2017 award to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder, Ola Cabs.