FreshBus raises Rs 26 crore

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Bengaluru-based EV bus startup FreshBus on Thursday said it has raised Rs 26 crore in a funding round from travel tech platform ixigo.

The fund raised in the seed funding round will help the launch of the company’s premium inter-city electric bus services across India, FreshBus said in a statement.

The company will commence its services simultaneously from Hyderabad and Bengaluru with the launch of 24 electric buses. It plans to scale up operations to over 1,000 buses pan-India in the next 2-3 years.

“We will offer a more environment-friendly and affordable alternative to existing inter-city public transport which is currently dominated by fossil-fuel buses,” FreshBus Founder and CEO Sudhakar Reddy Chirra said.

ixigo Co-Founder & Group CEO Aloke Bajpai and Co-Founder & Group CPTO Rajnish Kumar said the company has invested in FreshBus with a joint vision of a future where all inter-city buses in India will run on clean fuel as the current diesel-based buses are a major source of urban air pollution.

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Colossa Ventures picks up 10 pc stake in e-mobility startup Vioma Motors
* Investment firm Colossa Ventures LLP on Thursday said it has picked up 10 per cent stake in electric mobility startup Vioma Motors leading the latter’s funding round.

The company, however, did not disclose the value of its investment in the electric two-wheeler startup and said BRTSIF, the existing investor, is also expected to participate in the funding round.

Vioma Motors was founded in 2020 by a team of aerospace engineers Varsha Anoop, Shomick Mohanty, Ummesalma Babuji, and chartered accountant Hozefa Irani. It claims to have developed an electric two-wheeler with a range of 400 km on a single charge.

“We are very excited to be part of Vioma’s journey as its revolutionary technology validated by ARAI disrupts the fast-growing EV market,” Colossa Ventures Founder Ashu Suyash said.

Colossa primarily looks to invest in ‘women-first’ businesses with innovative ideas.

“Resolving Range anxiety for customers without compromising on safety and economics has been the key motivation for starting up Vioma Motors. The new investment will be utilised towards optimising the battery pack, completing the homologation process and gearing up for commercial launch,” Vioma Motors Co-Founder & CEO Varsha Anoop said.

With the closing of the Pre-Series A fundraise, Vioma Motors plans to fast-track its development and launch of the E2W model, the statement said.