Bus aggregator start-up Shuttl raises $18 million in funding
Shuttl, a Gurugram-based bus aggregator that promises to make daily commute safe, reliable, and affordable for everyone, has raised $18 million in Series C round of funding. The investment was led by giants such as Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a unit of Toyota group, and Japan's SMBC Trust Bank (acting as a trustee of Mirai Creation Fund II). Here's all about its latest fund-raise.
Shuttl making daily commute easier and hassle-free
Founded in 2015 by IITians Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya, Shuttl offers a mobile platform to book an affordable shuttle/bus and make daily commute safe, reliable, and hassle-free. Presently, the company operates over one lakh rides on a daily basis with as many as 1,800 buses operating in cities like Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
Plans to hire over 100 employees by year-end
Besides offering daily commute services, Shuttl is also setting up its first technology and innovation center in Bengaluru. The company will use the center as its headquarter for in-house research and development activities, and deploy the fresh funds to hire over 100 employees by the end of this year, among other things. To note, it even provides a dedicated service for corporates.
It also offers meals with bus rides
In addition to this, Shuttl is also foraying into the food-delivery space with a pilot meal-delivery project launched earlier this year. Presently, the company offers food delivery through 50 buses and plans to expand the service to all of its buses.
Shuttl's total valuation now stands at about $200 million
Just recently, Shuttl had received $1.3 million and $1 million, respectively, in venture debt rounds from Trifecta Capital. Apart from that, the company had raised $11 million in Series B round from Amazon's Alexa Fund and Dentsu Ventures and $28 million in Series A investment led by US-based Lightspeed Ventures. Now, with the latest investment, its valuation stands at around $200 million.
Toyota will own a 6% stake in Shuttl
In this funding round, $6 million has been infused by Toyota while the rest $12 million comes from SMBC Trust Bank. Also, post this investment, the former will take a 6% stake in the shuttle-hailing company.
