New Delhi-based intra-city bus service provider ZipGo has raised ₹200 crores in series B led by Essel Group. The investment came from Essel Green Mobility (EGM), a subsidiary of Essel Infraprojects Ltd, the infrastructure arm of the Essel Group.
Talking about the investment, Jitender Sharma, co-founder & CEO, ZipGo, said, “ Essel Group has a vast experience in building and operating multi-billion dollar, world-class infrastructure across the country. Hence, this investment, along with the support of the Essel Group, will now allow ZipGo to accelerate its growth, with a clear focus on green mobility, and successfully navigate the operational challenges of building a pan-India mass-transportation business.”
This news comes days after it was reported that ZipGo is expected to raise funds from Essel Group.
The fresh funds will be used to expand the fleet and route network of the startup, while it transitions to a 100% electric fleet, to accelerate EV technology adoption in India.
The startup further plans to raise another ₹100 crores to add a category on e-rickshaws on its platform across several states in the next twelve months, according to a statement by ZipGo.
Founded by Jitender Sharma, Gaurav Agarwal, and Pritesh Gupta in 2015, ZipGo provides inter and intra-city bus services to its individual and corporate customers. The startup is currently operational in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
Apart from tier 1 cities, the startup is looking to expand its geographical outreach to tier 2 and tier 3 cities like Mangalore, Tirupati, Vishakapatnam, Udaipur, Indore, among others. As it looks to penetrate tier 2 and tier 2 cities, the startup will also be adding support for languages including Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, and Hindi, on its platform.
Another major player in this domain, Shuttl had raised ₹75.6 crores from Amazon late last month.
According to a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance report, electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to comprise 7% of new car sales in India by 2030. It also said that sales of electric cars and electric buses are expected to reach 24% and 84% respectively by the same year.
Since India’s EV market only constitutes 0.1% of the global market share, there is a unique opportunity for growth.