Google might soon acquire India-based startup Where Is My Train; Xiaomi to invest

Google and Xiaomi the two famous companies, where one knows for its search engine other is known for its smartphone. Both the companies are looking forward to investing in a two-year-old startup known as Where Is My Train. This is an app which gives you real-time updates on trains without the use of the internet and GPS, two familiar people with the development told Economic Times.

Google is in talks to acquire the company for $30-40 million, while Xiaomi has held discussions for an investment, they said.

"The talks with Google are more advanced and they are likely to buy the company as a part of their Next Billion Users initiative," Economic Times quoted one of them as saying.

Where Is My Train is an app which is owned by Sigmoid Labs, this is one of the most downloaded train-based apps in India. This app has reached over 10 million downloads in the country. The app competes with RailYatri and iXigo.

But the co-founder of Sigmoid Labs Ahmed Nizam Mohaideen denied that Where Is My Train is being acquired. "We are in full ownership of the company. We are focused on creating value for Indian train travellers," he said in an email response to Economic Times.

If this turns out to be true then this will be the first product acquisition in India by a large global internet company. Last year the tech giant acquired Bengaluru-based Halli Labs. Where Is My Train offers a consistent offline combination of Indian Railways and IRCTC timetables, it uses cell-tower data to find trains.

India is the second-highest number in terms of active internet users, at about 390 million, and with a penetration of about 28%. It has substantial room for growth in future, as per a report on India's digital opportunity by Bain & Co, Google and Omidyar Network.

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