Exclusive: New Atlantic Ventures leads $5 mn funding round in Shuttl

Bus aggregation platform Shuttl has raised $5 million (around Rs 35 crore at current exchange rates) in a funding round led by US-based venture capital firm New Atlantic Ventures, two people privy to the development told TechCircle on the condition of anonymity. The latest infusion comes less than a month after the startup raised capital from some of its existing investors.

Shuttl, owned by Gurugram-based Super Highway Labs Pvt. Ltd, is in the market to raise up to $20 million. Late last month, it raised $7-8 million from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Times Internet as part of the larger funding round, TechCircle had reported.

Read: Sequoia, Lightspeed lead fresh investment in Shuttl

The New Atlantic Ventures-led infusion is likely part of the ongoing $20 million round. Some of the  startup’s other existing investors, including data analytics firm Mu Sigma co-founder Ambiga Subramaniam and Trifecta Capital, also joined the round. New Atlantic Ventures focuses on seed and early stage investments. The firm had earlier invested in Mumbai based payments startup Pine Labs and exited the company in 2013 by selling its stake to Sequoia, according to information on its website. 

Email queries to Shuttl founders Deepanshu Malviya and Amit Singh and text messages to Thanasis Delistathis, managing partner at New Atlantic Ventures, did not elicit responses at the time of publishing this report.

By TechCircle’s estimates, Shuttl’s valuation could stand anywhere between $150 million and $160 million when it completes the ongoing fundraising exercise.

Shuttl

Founded in April 2015 by Singh and Malviya, alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur respectively, Shuttl has been raising capital consistently since last year. In July last year, it raised  $11 million (Rs 75.5 crore then) in a Series B funding round led by Amazon Alexa Fund and Japan-based Dentsu Ventures. In January this year, it raised $1.3 million (around Rs 9.2 crore) in venture debt from Trifecta Capital.

The platform provides shuttle services to office-going commuters besides separately catering to corporates. In addition, it also provides vehicles for rentals, according to information available on its website. It currently operates in Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Faridabad, Noida and Pune. 

In September last year, the company inked a pact with Hyderabad-based Commut to absorb its customers and driver partners.

As part of its diversification, the company is also mulling a foray into food delivery. The company’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings revealed that it has tweaked its objects in the AoA (articles of association) to enable its entry into the hyperlocal food delivery market.

“To carry on the business of manufacturing, processing , packaging, storage, transportation, buying, selling, producing, importing, exporting, distributing, trading, supplying, marketing, managing and dealing in all kinds of foods and beverages …..” the filing stated.

According to data compiled by VCCEdge, the financial and data research platform of Mosaic Digital, the company that owns TechCircle, Shuttl posted a three-fold growth in operational revenues for the financial year 2017-18 at Rs 44.74 crore, up from Rs 14.34 crore in the previous fiscal. The rise in operational revenues also led to a marginal reduction in net losses to Rs 51.22 crore, down from Rs 59.07 crore in 2016-17.

Recent developments in the online bus aggregation sector

• August 2018: Bengaluru-based ZipGo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates ZipGo, announced that it was raising Rs 300 crore (around $43.7 million then) in a Series B round of funding from the Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group.
• October 2018: ZipGo acquired Pune-based bus aggregator Supreme Trans Concepts in a cash-and-stock deal. 
• February 2019: Multiple media reports said that ZipGo was shutting down its Bengaluru and Mumbai operations amid a crisis at the Essel Group.