IntrCity, smart bus that solves mobility concerns in crowded cities, raises Rs 100 crore
Image credit: The New Indian Express
IntrCity by RailYatri, which provides inter-city mobility solutions pan India has raised over Rs 100 crore in the latest funding round led by Infosys co-founder and non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani and venture arm of electronic giant Samsung. The round also saw participation from other existing investors — Omidyar Network and Blume Ventures.
The mobility start-up has so far raised a total of $30 million, it said. IntrCity claims to solve the mobility concerns in crowded cities by offering smart bus travel through its fleet with various operators on the platform. Currently, the brand is running a fleet of 84 IntrCity SmartBus across 18 hubs, covering 65 destinations and serving nearly 400,000 travellers per month. “We are impressed by the rapid momentum of IntrCity RailYatri and it is on a successful path to create the scale, which a leader in inter-city mobility deserves. This initiative will be of great benefit and convenience to millions of domestic intercity travellers,” said Nilekani.
The start-up grew by 500 per cent over the last 18 months and is expecting 300 per cent increase in the revenue in the next three years. “We could create India’s leading multi-modal inter-city mobility network due to our deep understanding of how Bharat travels, gained due to focused execution of last four years. We have been expanding exponentially and now positioned ourselves quite firmly in the inter-city mobility segment with our brand IntrCity. The latest investments will help us expand our IntrCity SmartBus network and enhance our tech platform. We intend to expand our fleet to 300 from the current 84 in next few months and are on track for a managed fleet of 2,000 by 2022,” said Manish Rathi, CEO and co-founder, IntrCity by RailYatri.
All buses are equipped with onboard washrooms, full wi-fi connectivity, automatic passenger information system and on-board infotainment.
To ensure the safety of passengers, each bus has CCTV cameras, GPS, a state of the art AI-enabled driver alert system and alcohol tests for drivers. “We have on boarded a number of top operators on our platform in the past 18 months across North, South and West India, which coupled with our natural capability to acquire intercity travellers, has helped fuel growth on a fundamentally strong economic model. We hope to solidify our leadership in the intercity mobility space…,” said Kapil Raizada, co-founder, IntrCity.