How this Indian trio won $5 mn from BMW

BMW has partnered with three Indians who have created a mobile phone application called MyCityWay, which helps people find everything from a place to eat to the closest park to relax in.

BMW has invested $5 million in the company. "I am thrilled to announce that we have just signed our first strategic partnership with MyCityWay," Ian Robertson, responsible for sales and marketing at BMW, said in Munich recently.

"As a mobile app, MyCityWay provides users with information on public transportation, parking availability, and local entertainment for over 40 cities in the United States.

"Another 40 cities will be part of the global rollout, including Munich, of course," he added.

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The creators of MyCityWay are Puneet Mehta from Chandigarh, Archana Patchirajan from Chennai and Sonpreet Bhatia from New Delhi.

"This is a huge boost and vote of confidence," Mehta told PTI.

"This brand (BMW) stands for a lot of things," he added. The trio came into prominence when their original travel application called NYCWay was voted by New Yorkers as their favorite in a city-wide competition launched by NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, last year.

The NYCWay app allows New Yorkers and visitors to the city to check out tonnes of handy information, including live traffic updates, restaurant inspection results, WiFi locations and even local crime data.

The app, the creators say, will soon be introduced in four cities in India -- Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi.

The application will also be part of new sub-brand being launched by BMW called BMW I. In a first move, two models will be launched under the new sub-brand from 2013 -- the BMW i3 and BMW i8 -- the company said.