Buser
, a bus charter service, has landed $138 million in a Series C round.
The investment in the Brazil-based startup was led by Lightrock, with Softbank, Monashees, Valor Capital, Globo Ventures, Canary and Iporanga Ventures also participating.
Buser, a
PhocusWire Hot 25 Startup
, enables travelers to charter a bus and share the cost of a trip with others interested in the same route.
The company says it has more than four million customers on its platform and its model has provided trips that are more than 50% cheaper that services from traditional transportation companies.
Buser says it is focusing on expanding its charter operations as well as offering new services including urban passenger transportation and a bus ticket marketplace in partnership with large bus companies.
Marcelo Abritta, co-founder and CEO of Buser, says: “With the new investment round, we will continue to grow in number of passengers, trips and partners and prepare for the resumption of tourism, which will definitely occur. We will also focus on diversification, since it shows a huge potential to help Brazilians on several other fronts, such as urban passenger transportation, a sector that is even more sealed than the intercity segment.”
In an
article outlining its reasons for investing in Buser
, Lightrock says the company is focusin on a “multi-billion transportation market in Brazil, which has been dominated for decades by regional players sustained by a challenging regulatory framework for new entrants.”
It goes on to say that Buser is challenging the status quo and using its digital platform to connect passengers with transportation services.
Lightrock adds that Buser has turned in impressive results despite the pandemic with a threefold increase in passenger numbers in Decemer 2020 year-on-year and more than tripling the number of trips.