Exclusive: Bus tracking and ticketing platform Chalo raises $14 Mn

The bus tracking and ticketing service provider Chalo has raised close to $14 million in a fresh round from new and existing investors. This is the second round of funding for the company in the past six months.

Chalo raised $13.89 million from Lightrock India, Kalaari Capital and Matrix Venture Partners, its regulatory filings in Singapore show. Lightrock led the round with $7.8 million while Matrix and Kalaari infused $3.03 and $3 million respectively.

The new proceeds appear to be an extension of its Series C round. The company had raised a $40 million Series C round in September. The new money also has come at a time when Chalo is in the market to raise up to a $200 million round at about an $800 million valuation, as per an ET report.

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Chalo has been valued at about $365 million (post-money) in this fresh tranche.

A Chalo spokesperson declined to comment on the story.

Chalo makes money by tying up with local city bus operators across India, and providing GPS tracking and online ticketing for passengers, which includes digital bus passes for multiple journeys; the operators pay the company for increased ridership.

Mumbai’s largest local bus operator, BEST, announced this month that it would be taking a larger amount of its fleet fully digital with Chalo’s product, including a “Chalo Card” that uses NFC. It raised a total of $76 million (including this tranche) across several rounds.

Chalo had recently acquired self-drive scooter rental service Vogo and Toyota-backed Shuttl’s intellectual property in 2021. Entrackr was first to report about Vogo’s acquisition by Chalo in  November.

Launched in 2014 by Mohit Dubey, Vinayak Bhavnani, Priya Singh, and Dhruv Chopra, Chalo had a flat growth during FY21. Its operational revenue stood at Rs 27.63 crore in FY21 as compared to Rs  27.43 crore in FY20, its annual financial statements show. The company’s losses were also reduced by 42% to Rs 33 crore in FY21.