Vindhya Mehrotra & Fery Rides
Vindhya Mehrotra is the Co-founder and CMO of Fery Rides, India’s first women-led, EV-powered ride-hailing platform created for women, by women. The idea for Fery Rides was inspired by a close friend's experience of harassment while commuting, which revealed how unsafe mobility restricts women’s freedom and opportunities. This motivated Vindhya to build a solution at the intersection of safety, empowerment, and sustainability.
Fery Rides is committed to providing a safe, sustainable, and dignified mobility ecosystem where trained, background-verified women drivers offer rides exclusively for women passengers. The platform operates in two key areas: on-demand EV two-wheeler rides for last-mile connectivity and scheduled EV cab rides for premium city and airport travel. Fery Rides addresses three pressing challenges: women's safety, women's livelihoods, and sustainable urban transport. Inspired by the harsh reality that 8 in 10 women in Indian cities face harassment while traveling, Fery is creating a platform where women can travel without fear while also empowering women drivers to earn dignified incomes with flexibility.
With a fleet made up of 100% electric vehicles, Fery Rides also contributes to cleaner cities by reducing carbon emissions. The platform has already completed over 65,000 rides, serving more than 50,000 women passengers, and has onboarded over 250 women drivers, helping to support families and inspire others.
At Fery, Vindhya leads the brand strategy, customer engagement, and community building, focusing on campaigns that inspire women drivers, known as "Sister Partners," and ensuring that their values of safety, dignity, and green mobility resonate with both passengers and stakeholders. Vindhya is passionate about using marketing as a tool for empowerment, and she finds the greatest reward in hearing women describe their first Fery ride as a "moment of relief and peace of mind." To Vindhya, mobility means freedom, and providing safe, sustainable transportation can unlock opportunities for women, families, and communities across India.
The Giving Joy microgrant will play a critical role in furthering Fery Rides’ mission. The funds will be used to equip 10 women drivers with essential safety and operational equipment. This includes procuring and distributing helmets, safety kits, mobile phone mounts for navigation, and EV charging accessories as part of the driver onboarding process. Additionally, the grant will fund self-defense training sessions for their fleet of women drivers to build their personal safety awareness and confidence. These activities are crucial in ensuring that the women drivers are safe, prepared, and operationally ready to work, allowing Fery Rides to expand its platform while maintaining safety standards.
The grant will not only reduce onboarding costs but also accelerate the process of bringing more women drivers onto the platform, thereby increasing the availability of safe, dignified transport for women passengers. The direct beneficiaries of this grant will be the 10 women drivers who will receive the safety equipment and training, while the indirect beneficiaries will be an estimated 300-400 women passengers per month who will benefit from safer rides provided by these trained drivers.
Through this initiative, Fery Rides aims to increase women’s confidence and safety while empowering them with steady income opportunities. By equipping more women drivers and strengthening the platform's operations, Fery Rides will continue to foster greater women’s workforce participation and create a more inclusive and sustainable mobility ecosystem.
