Bengaluru-based inter-state electric bus service provider Fresh Bus has raised another INR 7.5 Cr in its second seed funding round from marquee investors like CRED founder and CEO Kunal Shah, TVS Motors MD Sudarshan Venu, and Rivigo CEO and founder Deepak Garg.
With this, the total funding raised by the startup stands at INR 23.5 Cr.
Speaking to Inc42, Fresh Bus founder and CEO Sudhakar Reddy Chirra said the startup will use the fresh funds primarily for tech development. Some amount would also be used for expanding its team.
“Fresh Bus is not just a bus operation but more of a tech plus sustainability business,” Chirra said. “We have a lot of data coming in, we use AI and ML to predict the fare for the routes, and so on.”
With sustainability currently being a key focus for many, Fresh Bus has been able to attract new investors as it brings both carbon emission reduction and tech innovation to the table, he added.
Founded by AbhiBus founder Chirra in 2022, Fresh Bus launched its electric bus operations on the Bengaluru-Tirupati route earlier this year. Currently, the startup has 20 buses, which operate on two routes – Bengaluru-Tirupati and Hyderabad-Vijayawada.
It is aiming to deploy about 70 buses in total by March 2024 and operate them on eight to ten routes, including Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Surat, and Delhi-Dehradun. The startup plans to have at least 170 ebuses on Indian roads by December next year.
Fresh Bus claims to have seen substantial traction since the launch of its bus services, posting a turnover of INR 6.5 Cr from April to October this year.
Chirra also claimed that 1.1 Lakh passengers have already used Fresh Bus’ services and 50% of them turned out to be repeat customers, travelling more than twice.
Meanwhile, the startup has also set up its own charging stations. It currently has two charging stations and aims to increase this number to at least 20 by the end of next year to support its growing ebus ecosystem.
With climate change and carbon emissions becoming a major issue, electric buses are steadily gaining more traction and government support. In the ebus market, Fresh Bus’ biggest competitor today is GreenCell Express.
Earlier this year, GreenCell Express raised debt funding of INR 3,000 Cr from state-owned REC Ltd.
Meanwhile, Fresh Bus secured INR 26 Cr from ixigo in its first seed funding round earlier this year. However, Chirra told Inc42 that the startup didn’t require INR 10 Cr from that and the funding raised in that round should only be considered as INR 16 Cr.
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