ixigo-backed all-electric intercity bus startup Fresh Bus raised $10.5 M Series A funding
The international early-stage transportation-focused venture capital fund Maniv led a Series A funding round of Rs 87.5 crore ($10.5 million) for the all-electric intercity bus startup Fresh Bus. Other investors in the round included Riverwalk Holdings, Shell Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
According to a press release from the company, Fresh Bus plans to deploy 150 new electric buses and add 15 new routes with the additional funds. The money will be used for team building and technology advancement in addition to operations scaling.
Renowned businessmen like TVS Motors MD Sudarshan Venu, Rivigo CEO Deepak Garg, and CRED founder Kunal Shah had previously backed Fresh Bus. The company had previously obtained Rs 16 crore ($2 million) from the public company Ixigo.
Sudhakar Reddy Chirra founded FreshBus, which provides a loyalty program, real-time bus tracking, and ticketing, among other services. In August 2021, ixigo purchased the bus aggregator Abhibus, which Chirra had built, in exchange for cash and stock.
The company, which is based in Bengaluru, says that it has transported more than 4 lakh people so far. Chirra says that in the next four years, the company plans to expand to 1000 electric buses throughout India.
According to the media, FreshBus lost Rs 2.1 crore in FY23 as a pre-revenue stage company. The business has not yet submitted its FY24 annual financial results.
Several organized travel companies from various regions, including IntrCity SmartBus, ZingBus, Yolobus, and gogoBus, are competitors of Fresh Bus.
