Bengaluru: FreshBus, an EV bus startup, has raised Rs 26 crore in a seed round. Bengaluru-based led this round from travel tech platform ixigo. This is the maiden funding for a three-year-old startup.
As per the reports, the funds will deploy by FreshBus to launch premium inter-city electric bus services across India.
The smart bus platform will run on a full-stack model with an extensive variety of services, including comfortable seating, noise-free air-conditioned cabin, IOT-enabled real-time air-quality and temperature monitoring, uniformed and friendly crew, security CCTVs, Wi-Fi, personal charging docks among others.
FreshBus said with the launch of 24 electric buses, it will start its services simultaneously from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and in March 2023, it is expected to announce its first operational routes. By 2026 the startup plans to step up its operations to over 1000 buses across the country.
EV Startup FreshBus was established by Sudhakar Reddy Chirra. Sudhakar earlier built Abhibus, a bus aggregator which was acquired in August 2021 by ixigo in a cash and stock business transfer agreement.
The ixigo IPO is set to go public and has already filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in order to raise Rs 1,600 crore in August 2021. Till now, Ixigo has raised Rs 433 crore, including a $53 million round led by Singapore-based GIC in July 2021.
