Bangladeshi ride-sharing startup nets $750k in seed money

Shuttle, a Bangladesh-based mass-transit startup, announced it has raised US$750,000 in its seed round led by Accelerating Asia.

The Shuttle team/ Photo credit: Shuttle

The new round brings the company’s total funding to date to US$1 million.

Investors including Robi Axiata, Impact Collective, and Bangladesh Angels Network also participated in the funding round, along with angel investors such as the head of mobility innovation programs at Uber and the co-founder and managing director of Foodpanda Bangladesh.

Launched in 2018, Shuttle provides transportation services with its air-conditioned minivans, which can accommodate up to 11 people. It charges less than one-fourth of what ride-sharing cars do.

“When we started, we figured out that different segments of people in society have different needs and priorities, and that one solution will not solve all of the problems,” said Shuttle’s co-founder and CEO Reyasat Chowdhury.

Keeping the different needs of people in mind, the company started with a women-only service to address the lack of safe transportation for women. In 2020, Shuttle extended its services with “Shuttle for Business” to provide organizations with sanitized transportation for their employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company aims to make transportation more affordable and accessible for people in developing countries. Currently, it has over 20,000 women registered on its platform for the “Shuttle for Women” service, and has completed more than a million rides.

Shuttle said it is also eligible to receive funding of up to US$100,000 from Biniyog Briddhi, a public-private development partnership between the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh, Roots of Impact, and LightCastle Partners.