From Morgan Stanley to India's Bus Stops: The Nikhil Aggarwal Story of Building Chalo
An in-depth profile of Nikhil Aggarwal, the founder who left investment banking to build mobility unicorn Chalo and now heads fintech firm Grip Invest.
The Man Who Cracked Public Transport
Nikhil Aggarwal’s journey is a powerful lesson in seeing an opportunity where others see chaos. He is the entrepreneur who traded a lucrative career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley to tackle one of India’s most complex, ground-level challenges: public transport. As the co-founder and former COO of Chalo, he architected a technology-driven solution that now powers millions of daily journeys. Today, as the Founder and CEO of Grip Invest, he is working to disrupt the world of alternative investments.
This profile pieces together the story of his career, the strategic masterstrokes behind Chalo’s growth, and the core philosophies that drive him.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights
The Making of a Founder: A Curse and a Calling
Before diving into the world of startups, Nikhil Aggarwal was firmly embedded in the world of high finance. With a Bachelor's in Economics from Delhi University and a Finance MBA from the prestigious Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), his path led him to roles where he helped rebuild HSBC’s mortgage portfolio post the 2009 financial crisis and then to a significant six-year tenure as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, advising on M&A and capital market transactions.
But after years of climbing the corporate ladder, he felt the onset of what he calls the "curse of middle management."
“You typically start seeing the next three or four years being similar to the last three years. At that point of time, you're young, you don't have that many responsibilities... And that's when that, you know, kujali starts happening to say, if I want to do something different, this is the time.”
This entrepreneurial urge led him to cross paths with Mohit Dube, the founder of Carwale, who had an insight: the future of Indian mobility wasn’t just about selling more cars, but about making public transport better for the hundreds of millions who depend on it. This thesis was the seed for a new mobility venture called Chalo, and Nikhil joined as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer in 2016 to help build it from the ground up.
The Chalo Thesis: Solving "When Will My Bus Arrive?"
Chalo’s initial mission was broad: to improve public transport. The team first built a multimodal journey planner, but quickly discovered a fatal flaw—the static bus schedules published by transport agencies were practically fiction in the face of India’s unpredictable traffic. The real problem wasn't planning a journey; it was the anxiety and uncertainty of waiting for a bus that might never arrive on time.
The mission was then distilled into solving one core question for the commuter: “Meri bus kab aayegi?” (When will my bus arrive?).
To solve this, the Chalo team didn’t start with a complex tender or a massive hardware rollout. They started with a scrappy, ingenious hack. They went directly to bus conductors and paid them extra money to simply activate the GPS on their personal smartphones while on their route. This allowed Chalo to start tracking buses and collecting real-time data, proving the concept’s value before a single piece of proprietary hardware was installed.
The Data-First Playbook: How a Ticketing Machine Became a Goldmine
Chalo’s most brilliant strategic insight was its "data-first, commerce-second" approach. After proving the value of live tracking, the next step was to build a more robust system. They introduced high-tech, Android-based ticketing machines for conductors. But their primary purpose wasn’t what you’d expect.
“The reason we put the ticketing machine in the bus was to find out the route number and that, married with the GPS data, gave us the ability to predict ETA. Once we started putting the machine and seeing the data, we realized that, okay, there's another opportunity here to build Commerce on top of it.”
This is the core of the Chalo playbook. The hardware was a tool to capture the most crucial piece of missing information: which route a specific bus was on at any given time. This data was the key to their predictive accuracy. The ability to process digital payments, launch the tap-to-pay Chalo Card, and create flexible digital passes was a hugely valuable—but secondary—benefit that was layered on top of this powerful data infrastructure.
Scaling the System: The Business of Free Hardware
Armed with a solution that worked, Chalo’s challenge was to scale it across cities, which meant partnering with government transport agencies. Their strategy was simple: remove all friction. Chalo provided the GPS devices and the advanced ticketing machines to bus operators entirely free of cost.
The data generated was so valuable that it became a formidable moat. For operators, the Chalo dashboard provided unprecedented visibility into their fleet, helping them track buses, reduce cash pilferage, and optimize routes for efficiency. Chalo’s business model evolved from charging a fee on digital tickets to a revenue-sharing partnership, where they earned a percentage of the total revenue increase they helped generate.
This full-stack approach, solving problems for both the passenger and the operator, fueled explosive growth. The company’s journey was further accelerated by strategic acquisitions of office commute bus provider Shuttl and last-mile EV bike service Vogo, transforming Chalo into a comprehensive, multi-modal urban mobility platform.
The Second Act: Democratizing Investments with Grip
After three and a half years of scaling Chalo, Nikhil transitioned out in late 2019. Following a stint as a consultant for the World Bank’s Transport Practice—where he advised governments on public transport policy—he embarked on his next entrepreneurial venture. In May 2020, he founded Grip Invest.
Grip is a fintech platform focused on democratizing alternative investments. It allows retail investors to access investment opportunities in assets like leased equipment, inventory, and commercial real estate that were previously only available to high-net-worth individuals and institutions. As Founder and Group CEO, Nikhil is applying his knack for building scalable, tech-driven platforms to the world of finance.
Chalo By The Numbers
Total Funding: Approximately $119 million raised across several rounds.
Fleet Size: Technology deployed in over 15,000 buses across India and international markets.
Annual Ticket Value: The Chalo system enabled an estimated $180 million in gross ticket value annually, as per the founder's last public statement.
Valuation: The company’s Series D round in May 2023 valued it at between $400 million and $500 million.
Team: Grew the company as Co-Founder and COO for over 3.5 years.
The Founder's Philosophy: Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First
Throughout his journey, Nikhil has developed a clear leadership philosophy centered on sustainability and team well-being. He believes a company's greatest asset is its people and that retaining talent is a direct investment in growth. More importantly, he emphasizes the need for founders to protect their own health as a prerequisite for company health.
"...on flights... they first say put the life mask on yourself right the oxygen mask. and then help your passenger. if you're not helping yourself during the journey there is no way that you will be able to help your colleagues or companies."
This perspective, gained from the front lines of building a high-growth startup, defines his approach as he builds his second major venture. From solving the daily commute for millions to creating new investment opportunities, Nikhil Aggarwal’s story is a testament to the power of a clear vision, strategic execution, and the relentless drive to build something new.
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