“Chalo” a public transport tech firm raises $45 million, to expand globally

Posted on by

Chalo, the public transportation technology company, has raised $45 million in Series D funding. This round is being led by upcoming investors Avataar Ventures, along with existing investors Lightrock India, WaterBridge Ventures, and Amit Singhal (SVP and former head of Google search). Chalo also raised an additional $12 million secured in risk debt from Trifecta and Stride Ventures. This brings the total money raised by Chalo to $119 million to date.

Chalo didn’t disclose any other financial details, but according to sources, the company has crossed a valuation of about $450 million in the new funding round.

The financing is expected to assist the company in the next phase of its growth. It plans to focus on increasing sustainable e-vehicles on the road – buses and e-bikes, and further strengthening its technical capabilities towards 100 percent digitization of buses. The company also plans to expand its presence in international markets after its successful foray into Southeast Asia.

“In the past two years, our capabilities have grown significantly. We have strengthened our core city bus business and now offer a multi-modal public transport network solution for cities, including city buses, premium buses, first and last mile connectivity,” said Mohit Dubey, CEO, Chalo. “Our tech stack is globally relevant, and can help improve the public transit experience in cities around the world.”

Chalo is a technology platform designed to improve the consumer experience on city buses and make buses more reliable. With a better and more reliable experience, the number of bus passengers is increasing. In the Chalo app, passengers can track their buses live and know their live arrival time, thus eliminating waiting time at bus stops. They can also see how crowded the bus is and purchase a ticket or a bus ticket via the app. The Chalo Card enables digital bus tickets for those who don’t feel comfortable using their smartphones to pay.

For bus operators, Chalo has built the complete technology suite to digitize bus operations and deliver a digital bus experience. Chalo offers a dedicated mobile application for operators through which they can monitor their buses live, as well as a digital ticketing platform that enables mobile tickets, cards and cash on buses. Operators benefit with increased revenue. Digital transactions also reduce monetary misappropriation.

Chalo operates in 51 cities and tracks 15,000 buses in India (Mumbai, Chennai and many more) and select international markets, with a proven record of increasing bus ridership by up to 50 percent in the first year of the same implementation. Chalo also operates premium office commute buses in Delhi and Kolkata under the Shuttl brand name; And it has a fleet of e-bikes for first and last mile connectivity under the Vogo brand name. Recently, Chalo has also partnered with Mumbai’s BEST to launch Chalo Bus, a premium all-day AC bus service, where passengers can pre-book their seats on the Chalo app.