Got a waitlisted ticket? ConfirmTkt can predict PNR status within seconds
Updated: Sep 21, 2015 11:22:22am
New Delhi, Sept 21 (KNN) Getting a confirmed ticket at once with the Indian Railways is almost like a dream for every passenger travelling by train in India. With 30 million passengers travelling daily via trains, almost 22 lakh tickets are booked on a daily basis of which 7.9 lakh tickets are waitlisted.
ConfirmTkt ( www.confirmtkt.com ) , a travel tool, paid heed to the issue and provided the Indian passengers with a solution to counter the problem.
Sripad Vaidya, the co-founder of the venture shared some insights of ConfirmTkt with KNN.
ConfirmTkt is an IRCTC train PNR predictor which is backed by a unique and efficient algorithm which predicts your IRCTC PNR in seconds based on historical trends .It also assists you in deciding whether to book or not if the ticket is in waitlist.
The co-founder talked about the enterprise saying “We never stopped innovating. Even though we started predicting the PNR statuses, we found that there are some tickets for which confirmation chances are very low (Confirmtkt status shows “No Chance”).”
“The number of ticket which would end up in W/L is huge. After a deep analysis of the train data, we designed an algorithm which would start exploring all the possible quotas available on a train to discover an alternate way to travel,” he added.
The idea of developing such algorithm for an app stroke the founders, Dinesh and Sripad, when they themselves encountered the trouble of getting confirmed seats in the train whenever they wished to travel to their hometowns.
“We had two options - either to travel by train (if you are lucky enough to get a ticket) start shelling out huge amount of money on the buses, which would be somewhat 5-10 times of the train fare during the peak season or weekends,” said Vaidya .
“Then we started observing the ticketing trends for train (Bangalore Express-12785) which we usually travel in and surprisingly we saw a trend in the way booking and cancellations happen. To try out started booking the waitlist tickets based on my observations and many times we both travelled with Confirmed ticket. So at the point we thought of building software which can predict and help the common user. This is how everything started,” he added.
Hiring a passionate team and reaching the huge market with almost no marketing budgets posed a huge challenge for the venture.
ConfirmTkt raised fund from angel round from Pravin Agarwala & Sasidhar Imadabathuni.
While Pravin Agarwala was an IT industry veteran, and a globally acknowledged technology leader, Sasidhar Imadabathuni was one of the close friends of the founders and a well-wisher who was interested in the venture from the initial days, as per the conversation with the co-founder. Both of them aided the founders by providing the funding required for ConfirmTkt.
With a current team of five, the venture’s primary focus is user acquisition and product development till now.
“Whatever we have launched we have innovated,” said the entrepreneur adding that “Our unique and innovative features are our USP- Predictions and alternate travel options.”
The co-founder of the enterprise was of the view that with the mobile phones now affordable for everyone from the middle class to the lower class; the trend of online business has fuelled.
“In a way, the e-commerce will empower the offline businesses to grow and go global,” he said.
Discussing the trend of SMEs in India, Vaidya has few notions in this regard. He holds the view that India is becoming a land of opportunities now. Many small and medium sized start-ups are emerging. “Young generation mind-set is changing they are innovative and look to start something on their own.”
In the forthcoming years, ConfirmTkt would grow as a ticket discovery tool which would uncover all the hidden alternate options to travel with confirmed train tickets. “Currently we deal with only trains but soon we will be into other modes of transport,” said Viadya speaking about the venture’s growth plan.
The entrepreneur also believes that the Government is supporting the newly emerged start-ups pretty well these days with its programs like ‘Nasscom 10k start up`s’ which gives enormous support in terms of mentorship, office space ,funds and many more .
ConfirmTkt is a part of Nasscom 10 k startup`s nurturing program for 2015. (KNN/ J)
ConfirmTkt ( www.confirmtkt.com ) , a travel tool, paid heed to the issue and provided the Indian passengers with a solution to counter the problem.
Sripad Vaidya, the co-founder of the venture shared some insights of ConfirmTkt with KNN.
ConfirmTkt is an IRCTC train PNR predictor which is backed by a unique and efficient algorithm which predicts your IRCTC PNR in seconds based on historical trends .It also assists you in deciding whether to book or not if the ticket is in waitlist.
The co-founder talked about the enterprise saying “We never stopped innovating. Even though we started predicting the PNR statuses, we found that there are some tickets for which confirmation chances are very low (Confirmtkt status shows “No Chance”).”
“The number of ticket which would end up in W/L is huge. After a deep analysis of the train data, we designed an algorithm which would start exploring all the possible quotas available on a train to discover an alternate way to travel,” he added.
The idea of developing such algorithm for an app stroke the founders, Dinesh and Sripad, when they themselves encountered the trouble of getting confirmed seats in the train whenever they wished to travel to their hometowns.
“We had two options - either to travel by train (if you are lucky enough to get a ticket) start shelling out huge amount of money on the buses, which would be somewhat 5-10 times of the train fare during the peak season or weekends,” said Vaidya .
“Then we started observing the ticketing trends for train (Bangalore Express-12785) which we usually travel in and surprisingly we saw a trend in the way booking and cancellations happen. To try out started booking the waitlist tickets based on my observations and many times we both travelled with Confirmed ticket. So at the point we thought of building software which can predict and help the common user. This is how everything started,” he added.
Hiring a passionate team and reaching the huge market with almost no marketing budgets posed a huge challenge for the venture.
ConfirmTkt raised fund from angel round from Pravin Agarwala & Sasidhar Imadabathuni.
While Pravin Agarwala was an IT industry veteran, and a globally acknowledged technology leader, Sasidhar Imadabathuni was one of the close friends of the founders and a well-wisher who was interested in the venture from the initial days, as per the conversation with the co-founder. Both of them aided the founders by providing the funding required for ConfirmTkt.
With a current team of five, the venture’s primary focus is user acquisition and product development till now.
“Whatever we have launched we have innovated,” said the entrepreneur adding that “Our unique and innovative features are our USP- Predictions and alternate travel options.”
The co-founder of the enterprise was of the view that with the mobile phones now affordable for everyone from the middle class to the lower class; the trend of online business has fuelled.
“In a way, the e-commerce will empower the offline businesses to grow and go global,” he said.
Discussing the trend of SMEs in India, Vaidya has few notions in this regard. He holds the view that India is becoming a land of opportunities now. Many small and medium sized start-ups are emerging. “Young generation mind-set is changing they are innovative and look to start something on their own.”
In the forthcoming years, ConfirmTkt would grow as a ticket discovery tool which would uncover all the hidden alternate options to travel with confirmed train tickets. “Currently we deal with only trains but soon we will be into other modes of transport,” said Viadya speaking about the venture’s growth plan.
The entrepreneur also believes that the Government is supporting the newly emerged start-ups pretty well these days with its programs like ‘Nasscom 10k start up`s’ which gives enormous support in terms of mentorship, office space ,funds and many more .
ConfirmTkt is a part of Nasscom 10 k startup`s nurturing program for 2015. (KNN/ J)
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