Bus aggregator Shuttl receives $1 Mn debt fund from Trifecta Capital

Bus aggregator Shuttl has secured $1 million from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital. The fresh capital comes within three months of raising $11 million Series B round led by Amazon India, Amazon Alexa Fund and Dentsu Ventures.

The development reported by VCCircle, has not been confirmed by Shuttl or Trifecta.

The fresh funding also comes at a time when Shuttle is planning to explore new cities and increasing its presence in existing cities such as Delhi NCR and Jaipur. The startup has already piloted in Pune and Kolkata.

Moreover, the firm had recently taken over customers and drivers of its rival Commut. During the event, Dubai-based ride-hailing app Careem had acquired Hyderabad-based startup's technology and talent.

Backed by Sequoia Capital, Times Internet, and Lightspeed Ventures, Shuttle claims to have 800 buses with 45,000 daily rides in five cities and it has about 60,000 monthly active users.

The back to back funding for Shuttl will help it to expand its planned operations as well as fight its close rival ZipGo.

In one of the largest funding in this space, ZipGo had raised about Rs 300 crore (approx $44 million) Series B round from Essel Infra, an infrastructure arm of the Essel group.

Last year, Shuttl had faced hurdles as the transport department of Delhi government impounded over 50 Shuttl buses for permit violations.

Founded in April 2015 by Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya, Shuttl had raised $20 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed, Sequoia, Times Internet in December 2015.