Chalo Raises $7 Mn In A Funding Round The company aims to digitize India's public transport sector with the funding raised
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Public transport technology company Chalo on Wednesday announced that it has raised $7 million in its latest round of funding. Led by its existing investors Raine Ventures, WhatsApp former chief business officer Neeraj Arora and Google former senior vice-president and head Amit Singhal.
The new round of funding also saw participation from the family offices of Saket Burman of Dabur and Tarun Sawhney of Triveni Group, among others.
With this latest round of funding, the company has raised a total of $30 million to date.
"In India, and in many developing countries, buses are non-discretionary. As soon as cities were unlocked, we saw millions of commuters returning to buses," said Mohit Dubey, chief executive officer, Chalo.
The platform is present in 30 cities and provides solutions for consumers as well as for bus operators. Its app offers live bus tracking showing live arrival times of the buses and a live passenger indicator that shows how crowded the bus is in real-time. Bus passengers can also buy mobile tickets and bus passes on the Chalo App, or choose to scan QR codes in buses to pay digitally for their bus ticket.
"Buses are not just the most affordable means to commute, they are fundamental for the cities' economy and revival. Chalo digitizes these buses and makes them safe and reliable - with live tracking and contactless digital payment. We are building a unique company to improve the experience in stage-carriage buses using a full tech stack. We are fortunate to have amazing investors who have partnered with us to build a better public transport solution for cities in India. We will soon be doing this in international cities as well," he added.
The company also offers the Chalo Card, an NFC touch-to-pay smartcard that can store a pre-paid wallet and travel passes.
The funds raised will be utilized for expanding the company's network into multiple cities as well as to increase the penetration of digital ticket technology in its existing cities.
With the enhanced focus on safety and eliminating contact post-COVID-19, the platform has said have seen an increased demand for digital tickets, live bus tracking, and live passenger indicator.
