Pragya Paramita Sahoo
Amit Lakhotia’s journey from fintech executive to mobility tech disruptor is a classic case of tech meets grit. But more than that, it’s the story of a builder — a leader who’s not just scaling a company, but reshaping how urban India moves, parks, and pays.
From Paytm to Park+: The Pivot to Problem-Solving
Before launching Park+, Amit Lakhotia was best known as a key player at Paytm, where he led the wallet business. His tenure saw meteoric growth, as he scaled the platform to millions of users during India’s digital payment boom. Prior to that, he worked at MakeMyTrip and Tokopedia, gaining firsthand experience in high-scale consumer tech.
But in 2019, driven by a desire to solve more ‘physical world’ problems, Lakhotia turned his attention to something most city-dwellers struggle with — urban car ownership. Parking in Indian cities was a nightmare. Getting a FASTag was complicated. Challan payment was scattered. And no one was solving it end-to-end.
That’s when Park+ was born — a platform to take the hassle out of car ownership by offering services like real-time parking discovery, FASTag recharge, challan tracking, car insurance, and EV station locators — all in one app.
Building India’s Car Owner Super-App
Amit Lakhotia’s vision for Park+ is simple: “You should enjoy your car, not stress over it.” But the execution is anything but simple. It involves integrating with parking operators, housing societies, RTOs, fuel stations, toll plazas, and insurance providers — a complex mesh of digital and physical infrastructure.
Today, Park+ is live in 100+ cities, with over 60 lakh car owners using the app for everything from parking and car servicing to FASTag management and insurance renewal. It has digitized more than 3,000 parking lots, partnered with 10,000+ residential societies, and is now expanding to fleet management and EV infrastructure.
And all of it, Lakhotia built from scratch — bootstrapping in the early days, personally onboarding RWAs (resident welfare associations), and evangelizing the platform through ground activations.
Execution-First Leadership
What defines Amit Lakhotia as a founder is his execution-first mindset. He believes in solving real problems, not chasing vanity metrics. At Park+, decisions are driven by use-case validation, not hype. And Lakhotia is known for being hands-on — whether it’s product iteration, tech hiring, or user acquisition.
His leadership style is gritty and humble. Colleagues describe him as someone who works harder than most, reads obsessively, and prioritizes long-term product thinking over quick wins. At a time when many startups chase funding headlines, Lakhotia quietly focused on building sustainable value — and that value is now attracting attention.
Funding and Growth
Park+ raised its Series C round in 2022, backed by big names like Sequoia Capital, Epiq Capital, Matrix Partners, and Accel. With over $55 million in total funding, it’s now among the most promising mobility tech startups in India.
Lakhotia is using this capital not just for expansion but for building a moat — including IoT-driven smart parking solutions, AI-powered challan alerts, and EV battery-swapping infrastructure. His ambition? To make Park+ the default app for car ownership in India — a category-defining company.
A Bold Voice in the Ecosystem
Beyond the boardroom, Amit Lakhotia has emerged as a sharp thinker and an underrated voice in India’s startup scene. His views on execution, user experience, and ground-up product building are sought after in tech circles. He often emphasizes that India’s next tech revolution won’t just be digital-first — it will be real-world integrated, like what Park+ is doing.
His story is also inspiring because of his resilience. Park+ was born just before COVID hit — a time when car movement tanked, parking demand collapsed, and investor appetite dried up. But Lakhotia persisted. He used the downtime to build tech, refine the model, and prepare for the long haul. That foresight is now paying dividends.
The Road Ahead
Amit Lakhotia isn’t slowing down. With the rise of EVs, digital tolls, and smart cities, he believes the need for integrated car-owner services will only grow. He’s already eyeing Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, aiming to make Park+ as essential in Indore and Surat as it is in Delhi and Mumbai.
He’s also bullish on B2B plays, helping companies manage employee parking, corporate fleet tracking, and car lease operations. With a growing bouquet of services, Park+ is well on its way to becoming India’s “one app for everything car.”
Conclusion
Amit Lakhotia’s story is proof that real innovation lies not just in new ideas, but in solving everyday problems at scale. With Park+, he isn’t just transforming mobility — he’s upgrading the experience of car ownership in India.
At Arise Times, we believe in spotlighting such visionary builders — the ones who don’t just follow trends, but set them. And Amit Lakhotia is undoubtedly steering Indian tech into the fast lane.
Ritwik Mathur
