Driving education and mobility platform Lane has raised ₹8.5 crore in a funding round led by Kae Capital with participation from DeVC, Antler India, Panthera Peak and angel investors.
The fresh capital will be used to expand geographically across Bengaluru and other Tier I cities, accelerate development of Lane’s sensor-based driving behaviour system and build services around first-time car ownership.
Founded in 2025 by Samiksha Agarwal, Lane is building a technology-enabled driving education platform that combines structured driving lessons, RTO and licensing support and a driver intelligence system.
India has around 250 million licence holders, but a large proportion of drivers learn informally from family or friends. Lane said the country’s formal driving test, which is conducted at relatively low speeds on fixed tracks, does not replicate real-world traffic conditions. India accounts for nearly 11 per cent of global road deaths despite having about 1 per cent of the world’s vehicles, according to the company.
Lane has delivered more than 30,000 hours of driving instruction to over 3,100 learners in 18 months. Nearly 70 per cent of its customers already held a driving licence when they enrolled, which the company sees as evidence of the gap between licensing and driving proficiency.
The company has developed its safety-focused training methodology through more than 400 hours of pilot classes, with instructors assessed across 15 driving parameters. Qualified instructors can earn between ₹80,000 and ₹90,000 a month while operating within micro-markets close to their homes.
“Every driving school in India chases the same thing: the licence,” said Agarwal. “We’re after something harder and far more valuable — a confident, competent driver.”
Lane is also expanding beyond driving education into vehicle ownership. The company has begun offering car purchases and RTO services to its learners, with nearly 60 per cent of its customers expressing an intention to purchase their first car.
The startup’s longer-term plan is to build an AI-powered automotive platform centred on driver intelligence. Its sensor-based system is designed to turn driving sessions into behavioural data and build an individual profile for each driver. Lane sees potential applications in areas including insurance risk assessment, vehicle performance data and road-safety incentive systems.
“What convinced us wasn’t just the size of the category, but where it sits in a person’s life,” said Sunitha Viswanathan, partner at Kae Capital. “The moment you learn to drive is the moment you start thinking about owning, insuring, and building a life around a car.”
