Ixigo Invests Rs 26 Crore In FreshBus For Launching Inter-City E-bus Services

FreshBus has secured Rs 26 Crore in seed funding from ixigo (Le Travenues Technology Limited) for the launch of premium inter-city electric bus services across India. With an aim to revolutionize the bus travel experience with state-of-the-art electric buses, FreshBus will offer a futuristic alternative for convenient, affordable, and environment-friendly inter-city bus travel in India. The smart bus platform will run on a full-stack business model to deliver a wide range of innovative services including noise-free air-conditioned cabin, comfortable seating, uniformed and friendly crew, IOT-enabled real-time air-quality and temperature monitoring, security CCTVs, personal charging docks, Wi-Fi, real-time tracking, alcohol checks and more. 

FreshBus will commence its services simultaneously from Hyderabad and Bengaluru with the launch of 24 electric buses and is expected to announce its first operational routes in March 2023. The EV bus startup plans to scale up its operations to over 1000 buses pan-India in the next 2-3 years. 

Speaking on the new round of funding, Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Founder & CEO, FreshBus said, “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 emphasising 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 tonnes of CO2 emissions in a span of one year. That is equivalent to the effect of almost 10,000 trees on the environment!”

Mr. Aloke Bajpai (Co-Founder & Group CEO, ixigo), and Mr. Rajnish Kumar (Co-Founder & Group CPTO, ixigo) said - “There are nearly 100,000 inter-city buses operating in the country, the majority of which 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 upto 375 Km on a single charge with zero emissions, enabling greener, affordable & safer rides.”

Unlike existing inter-city bus aggregators, FreshBus will be a technology enabled smart bus operator that will build and own the customer experience for travelers end-to-end across finding, tracking and booking their electric intercity buses via the FreshBus mobile app and website. The total market size for inter-city bus travel is close to USD 20 billion and is expected to grow more in the next few years.