Indian bus aggregator Cityflo picks up $7.7m in Lightbox-led round

Existing investor India Quotient also participated in the round, along with angel investors.

The startup plans to invest the new capital in the upgrading of its operations, which includes increasing its presence across heavy traffic routes in Mumbai, as part of its efforts to become the go-to brand for office commuting.

Cityflo operates an app that lets commuters find route and timing info and book rides to get to work. The transportation company works with large bus operators and claims to run 160 buses and log over 8,000 bookings daily.

The mobility startup previously raised 30 million rupees (US$405,000) from India Quotient and other angel investors in a 2019 seed round. The company had also raised US$750,000 from IDG Ventures shortly after its launch in 2015.

Cityflo competes with app-based bus services such as Bengaluru’s ZipGo and Gurugram’s Shuttl, among others.

Earlier this year, Shuttl raised 570 million rupees (US$7.7 million) in its series C round from SIG Global India Fund while ZipGo had secured US$29.14 million in a series B round from Essel Green Mobility in 2018.