[Funding alert] IntrCity by travel startup RailYatri raises Series B round led by Nandan Nilekani

IntrCity by Noida- based travel tech startup RailYatri on Monday said that it has raised over Rs 100 crore led by Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani and Samsung Venture Investment.

This round also saw participation from other existing investors, Omidyar Network and Blume Ventures.

According to the regulatory filings accessed by YourStory, the company has raised Rs 43.02 crore from Entrust Family Office (NRJN Family Services) in its ongoing Series B funding round. ON Mauritius (Omidyar Network) and Milestone Trusteeship Services (Blume Ventures) also infused Rs 11.58 crore and Rs 10.08 crore in the startup respectively.

Manish Rathi, CEO and CO-founder of IntrCity by RailYatri, said,

“We could create India’s leading multi-modal inter-city mobility network due to our deep understanding of how Bharat travels, gained due to focussed execution of last four years. We have been expanding exponentially and now positioned ourselves quite firmly in the inter-city mobility segment with our brand, IntrCity. The latest investments will help us further expand our IntrCity SmartBus network and enhance our tech platform.”

Manish adds that the company plans to expand its SmartBus fleet to 300 from the current 84 in the next few months and are on track for a managed fleet of 2000 by 2022.

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Earlier this month, on February 17, RailYatri had raised Rs 14.03 crore from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation as a part of Series B funding round.

The regulatory filings showed that Samsung Venture Investment has been allotted 29,725 Series BB compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) for Rs 4,710 per share, totalling up to Rs 14.03 crore.

In 2018, the travel booking startup had raised $8 million in the Series B funding, which was led by Omidyar Network. Existing investors, including Nandan Nilekani, Blume Ventures and Helion Venture Partners, had also participated in the round.

Founded in 2014 by Manish Rathi, Kapil Raizada, and Sachin Saxena, RailYatri is a crowdsourced platform for trains and travel-related services. The travel app provides comprehensive information about trains and passenger amenities at stations, platforms, and the speed of the train, along with personalised alerts via the mobile app, mobile web and SMS.

RailYatri started the intercity bus service IntrCity SmartBus in 2019. The startup claims that the fleet runs across 18 hubs, covering 65 destinations, and serving nearly 400,000 travellers per month.

Commenting on the development, Nandan Nilekani says, “I am impressed by the rapid momentum of IntrCity RailYatri and it is on a successful path to create the scale which a leader in inter-city mobility deserves. This initiative will be of great benefit and convenience to millions of domestic intercity travellers.”

IntrCity SmartBuses offer a wide range of features such as on-board washrooms, Wi-Fi connectivity, automatic passenger information system, and on-board infotainment.

To ensure the safety of the passengers, each bus has CCTV cameras, GPS, a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled driver alert system, and alcohol tests for the drivers. All its buses are constantly monitored from a central command centre. 

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)