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Indian startup Chalo, which aims to revolutionize bus journeys, has collected $45 million in a new investment round and secured an extra $12 million in debt to expand mobility and enter foreign markets.
Avataar Ventures served as the investment round's lead investor. Amit Singhal, a former Google executive, and existing investors Lightrock India and WaterBridge Ventures also part in the fundraising. Trifecta and Stride Ventures provided the funding for the debt. The total amount raised by Chalo up to this point has been $119 million.
Chalo's creator, Mohit Dubey, was also the driving force behind CarWale, an online marketplace for exchanging new and used cars. After ten years at CarWale, Dubey discovered that his startup — and numerous other businesses of a similar nature — only catered to 3% of India's population.
Contrarily, Chalo's business focuses on enabling bus operators to switch to digital payments and make travel tracking easier.
Additionally, India has a vast potential market for buses valued at $20 billion.
Three buses are available for every 10,000 people, which presents a prime opportunity for disruption in an area that still needs to be addressed. Chalo is working to address issues like unpredictable bus schedules, cash-only fare payments, and the scarcity of monthly passes.
The eight-year-old business equips buses with GPS devices, allowing users of their eponymous app to watch their trip in real-time and purchase tickets and monthly passes.
In FY22, Chalo's operational revenue was Rs 35.75 crore, up from Rs 26.17 crore in FY21. Losses for the company increased by over 2X to Rs 66.4 crore.
Chalo has experienced a steady rise in ridership that its platform offers. This platform is active in nearly 50 cities and tracks more than 15,000 buses throughout India. Through Amazon-backed Shuttle and its entry into the e-bike market with the Vogo brand, the company has also increased the scope of its goods to meet customers' needs.
Dubey further concluded, our capabilities have hugely increased during the past two years. In addition to offering communities a multi-modal public transport network solution that includes city buses, premium buses, and first- and last-mile connections, we have enhanced our core business of city buses.
— Harshita Kumar
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