Gurgaon-based start-up Yolobus on Monday said it has raised a $3.3 million Series A round of financing. The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners and India Quotient.
Suvir Sujan, managing director of Nexus Venture Partners and Anand Lunia, general partner, India Quotient will join the board of Yolobus.
The funds raised will be used to expand its services in the country and build across technology, customer and crew safety and sanitisation.
The intercity full-stack bus service was founded by Shailesh Gupta and Mukul Shah in August 2019 and since then has covered more than 15 lakh kms and has 100,000+ customers. The Series A financing builds on a good first year for Yolobus which saw a rapidly growing market momentum in the first six months, the company said in a statement. This was further accelerated by a recent expansion of its full-stack bus services in the North-eastern region in May 2020.
“As an industry, we’re just scratching the surface of how India’s bus services can be when married to our uber offerings of safety, sanitisation and comfort,” said Yolobus Founder & CEO, Shailesh Gupta.
Yolobus aims to make bus travelling experience safe for customers once it resumes full operations post the lockdown. Every passenger will be checked with infrared temperature measuring guns before onboarding. Customers will be able to pre-order essential PPE kits and know the temperature of the bus crew members before boarding the bus, added Gupta.
The company will also introduce a sanitization tunnel for each passenger before onboarding to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The captain, along with the bus driver and staff will wear PPE kits to do away with the risk of contamination, ensuring a safe journey for the passengers. The company aims to provide airline-level services such as bus captains, high-speed Wi-Fi, washrooms, food and beverages, device charging points, etc.
“Intercity ground mobility in India hasn’t kept up with the needs of the discerning urban traveller and is ripe for disruption. Built on the pillars of Safety, Comfort and Convenience, the Yolobus team is using technology and data science to redefine intercity bus travel experience. I am excited to partner with them in their journey,” said Sujan.
