Indian online travel app Ixigo has invested $3.1 million in electric bus startup FreshBus.
The seed round will go toward the launch of the inter-city electric bus service across India.
The Bengalaru, India-based bus business is launching from Hyderabad and Bengalaru with 24 electric buses and plans to increase to 1,000 buses across India over the next two to three years.
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FreshBus was founded by Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, who previously launched Abhibus, which was acquired by Ixigo in 2021.
Chirra, who is also the CEO of FreshBus, says, “FreshBus was born out of a desire to address the pain areas of inter-city bus travelers in India, such as lack of punctuality, unscheduled stops, poor customer service, unprofessional staff, low bar for cleanliness, inconvenient boarding points, unhygienic pit stops for women, etc. FreshBus aims to address these issues by emphasizing on quality and customer experience to make bus travel a hassle-free experience for all. We will offer a more environment friendly and affordable alternative to existing inter-city public transport, which is currently dominated by fossil-fuel buses. A single FreshBus will save over 90,000 liters of diesel and reduce close to 200 tons of CO2 emissions in a span of one year. That is equivalent to the effect of almost 10,000 trees on the environment!”
The co-founders of Ixigo, Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, add that the majority of the 100,000 inter-city buses across India are “diesel-based and are a major source of urban air pollution. We are proud to be backing Sudhakar once more with a joint vision of a future where all inter-city buses in India will run on clean fuel. FreshBus buses will be able to cover up to 375 kilometers on a single charge with zero emissions, enabling greener, [more] affordable and safer rides.”