ZingBus, a start-up that provides intercity travel services by aggregating fleets of buses, is reportedly in advanced discussions to secure $12-15 million in a new funding round, as per Entrakr report.
The company, based in Gurugram, India, is seeking to expand its service into new cities and increase its fleet capacity. The round is set to be led by InfoEdge Ventures, with participation from new and existing investors. If successful, the funding round will take the total raised by the four-year-old firm to almost $20 million.
In July 2021, ZingBus secured nearly $6 million in a pre-Series A funding round from a group of investors including Infoedge Ventures, Locus Ventures and Founders Club. The new funding round is set to value the company at around $70 million post-money.
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ZingBus was founded in 2017 by Mratunjay Beniwal, Ravi Kumar Verma and Prashant Kumar. The company claims to have a network of over 350 buses operating in more than 500 cities across India. It has reportedly served more than three million customers across 18 states in Northern, Western and Southern regions of India.
In addition to its planned expansion, ZingBus has also recently collaborated with the National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) on a joint e-mobility project. The initiative is intended to help private diesel bus operators transition to working with electric vehicles, with ZingBus predicting that electric vehicles will be more profitable in the long run due to a 15-20 per cent reduction in running costs.
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ZingBus faces competition in the intercity bus aggregating space from companies including Yolobus, RailYatri’s IntrCity and redBus’ IntrCity SmartBus, and FreshBus.