Chalo bags fresh funding from Raine Ventures, others

Chalo, a public transport tech company, on Wednesday said it has raised $7 million (Rs 51.2 crore) in its new round of funding 

The startup raised the money from US-based early-stage fund Raine Ventures; Neeraj Arora, former chief business officer at WhatsApp; and Amit Singhal, former executive at Google, said Chalo in a statement.

The family offices of Dabur’s Saket Burman and Triveni Group’s Tarun Sawhney, among others, also participated in this round, it added.

Chalo, which is operated by  Zophop Technologies Pvt Ltd, has raised $30 million so far with this latest funding.

The startup will use the funds to expand in different cities and boost the use of its digital-tickets technology in existing cities. 

Chalo has seen an increased demand for digital tickets, live bus tracking and live passenger indicator in the pandemic. The startup is currently present in 30 cities.

Chalo, which was founded in 2014 by Mohit Dubey, Nikhil Aggarwal and Vinayak Bhavnani, also provides contactless payment solutions with an aim to transform bus travel into a safer experience.

Startups developing digital solutions to make travel contactless and hassle-free have attracted funding in the past year.

Last year, CityCash, a public transit-focused offline and contactless payments company, raised $1 million in seed funding from early-stage venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners.

Yolo TravelTech Pvt. Ltd, which operates inter-city transportation and mobility platform Yolo, raised $3.3 million in its Series A round of funding led by Nexus Venture Partners last year.