Vaibhav Kaushik founded a fuel-agnostic queue management platform, Nawgati. The company helps fuel providers and consumers make informed decisions with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Vaibhav Kaushik, a resident of Greater Noida, founded Nawgati, a fuel-agnostic queue management platform, four years ago. The startup aims to address the challenges of congestion and compliance monitoring at fuel stations dealing with CNG, petrol, and diesel. It uses deep learning technology to provide real-time updates on congestion at fuel stations, helping fuel stations and consumers plan ahead, make informed decisions, and ultimately save time and money.
Nawgati’s in-house deep learning algorithms use feed from existing infrastructure installed at the stations to segment vehicles into different vehicle categories, identify repeat trips at an outlet, and monitor SOPs and asset utilization. A pilot project was conducted with a fuel outlet of Indraprastha Gas Ltd in Delhi in 2021. The name ‘nawgati’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘navgatih’, which means ‘navigation’, reflecting the company’s mission to help fuel providers and consumers navigate the process of fuelling.
Nawgati offers two services: Aaveg, a data-backed B2B platform, and Nawgati Fuelling App, catering to consumers. The B2C fuel discovery app provides information on fuel rate, availability, and wait/serve time, enabling users to make informed choices and review their experiences at the fuel station. Aaveg is a vertical SaaS offering that provides a comprehensive overview of each fuel station on a dashboard with real-time information on transit time, waiting time, serving time, attendants deployed, and information on under/over-utilisation of resources.
Aaveg connects to existing infrastructure and native devices installed at stations, enabling real-time tracking of movement with minimal to zero time lapse. An edge controller device deployed at the outlet connects to the pre-existing infrastructure, processes real-time data, and sends the results to the cloud for insights into congestion, forecourt operations, and compliance with safety standards and emission norms. Fuel providers can monitor assets and metrics of their stations, gain insights into operations, customer satisfaction, repeat visits, and compliance management.
The platform employs data encryption technologies for secure transmission between hardware and the cloud, and uses a role-based access control feature to restrict third-party access to the data and enhance resilience to cyber attacks.
Nawgati, a startup, offers a B2B Aaveg service for petrol stations or companies to deploy at as many stations as they require, starting at Rs 5,000 per station per month. The basic features on the B2C Nawgati fuelling app are free for all users, with certain paid premium features in the pipeline. A congestion data API will be launched by the end of the year to reduce overall vehicle downtime.
Nawgati has installed its edge controller at over 150 fuel stations of Indraprastha Gas Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation in Delhi-NCR, Mahanagar Gas Ltd outlets in Mumbai, HPCL, Sabarmati Gas, Gujarat Gas, Torrent Gas, and petrol pump dealers across India. The startup is in discussions with Adani Gas, Think Gas, Green Gas, Vadodara Gas, Rajasthan State Gas, AG&P, Maharashtra Natural Gas, and other fuel companies.
Nawgati is in the process of onboarding 2,000 more fuel stations on Aaveg and plans to expand its reach in Tier I and II cities over the next six months. So far, the startup has onboarded more than 10 lakh users on its B2C fuel discovery app, including a select group of Nawgati Super Users who have played a crucial role in testing new features.
The startup aims to reach an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $1.5 million in the next few quarters and an ARR of over Rs 200 crore by 2027. India ranks third in the world in terms of oil and gas consumption, with more than 86,500 stations. Nawgati received initial support from PIED Society and was funded by various sources, including the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s TIDE 2.0 scheme in 2020.
Conclusion
Vaibhav Kaushik, a Noida-based startup, has developed Nawgati, a fuel-agnostic queue management platform. The platform uses deep learning to provide real-time updates on congestion at fuel stations, helping fuel stations and consumers make informed decisions and save time and money. Nawgati’s in-house deep learning algorithms use feed from existing infrastructure to segment vehicles, identify repeat trips, and monitor SOPs and asset utilization. The company offers two services: Aaveg, a data-backed B2B platform, and Nawgati Fuelling App, catering to consumers.
The B2C fuel discovery app provides information on fuel rate, availability, and wait/serve time, while Aaveg provides a comprehensive overview of each fuel station. Nawgati uses data encryption technologies for secure transmission and a role-based access control feature to restrict third-party access. The startup has installed its edge controller at over 150 fuel stations across India and plans to expand its reach in Tier I and II cities.
