IntrCity SmartBus, a tech-enabled intercity bus platform in India, has raised $30 million in funding to broaden its community throughout smaller cities and cities within the South Asian nation. The all-equity Collection D spherical, led by A91 Companions, values the Noida-based startup at $140 million post-money.

Intercity journey is accelerating in India as extra folks migrate from smaller cities to metropolitan cities for work and training.

To fulfill this demand, New Delhi has considerably expanded the nation’s freeway infrastructure. The nationwide freeway community has elevated by over 60% previously decade, from 56,723 miles to 90,847 miles, in keeping with Indian authorities information.

Railways, whereas in depth, stay capacity-constrained and can’t preserve tempo with rising inter-state journey demand. That makes long-distance street journey an important different. But, state-run intercity bus companies are restricted and infrequently fall brief on reliability and luxury — a niche IntrCity SmartBus goals to fill.

Not like conventional operators, IntrCity SmartBus runs on an asset-light mannequin by partnering with native bus house owners and equipping their automobiles with proprietary {hardware} for real-time monitoring, co-founder and president Kapil Raizada mentioned in an interview.

The startup additionally centralizes ticket reserving and route planning by way of its digital platform, which helps decide service frequency, pickup factors, boarding stations, and even seat configurations primarily based on demand.

To make sure security and consistency, IntrCity locations educated personnel — known as “captains” — on board every bus, Raizada instructed TechCrunch. Most automobiles function washrooms, and the corporate has additionally arrange air-conditioned boarding lounges staffed with crew to enhance the pre-departure expertise.

“All our buses are cloud-connected,” he famous. “There’s a bus working system, which we’ve got constructed up in-house, which displays and manages a number of parameters, together with the CCTV, sound, and temperature ranges.”

Based in 2019, IntrCity SmartBus started as an internet prepare ticketing platform below the RailYatri model. That entry level gave the group early insights into intercity journey habits and unmet demand in road-based mobility, Raizada mentioned.

Immediately, RailYatri contributes simply round 10% of the startup’s complete income, whereas the SmartBus enterprise accounts for the remaining 90%, he added.

IntrCity SmartBus operates round 600 each day bus journeys, transporting between 20,000 and 25,000 passengers every day — practically 700,000 per 30 days. The platform works with greater than 50 native bus operators and runs journeys averaging over 311 miles every. About 95% of its companies are in a single day, catering primarily to non-discretionary journey wants corresponding to work, training, or important appointments.

The startup’s typical passengers are between 20 and 45 years previous, together with small enterprise house owners, trainers, authorities officers, gross sales professionals, and college students.

The startup follows a hub-and-spoke mannequin and has recognized 15 to 16 key financial hubs throughout India. It operates in 13 to 14 of those hubs, spanning 15 states. The community covers all of northern India — from Jammu to Uttarakhand — and far of the south, together with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

“A variety of information crunching goes into understanding what the buyer wants,” mentioned Manish Rathi, co-founder and CEO of IntrCity SmartBus. “This contains choices like what sort of format a bus ought to have — ought to or not it’s a full sleeper, or a hybrid with each sleepers and seats?”

IntrCity SmartBus grew its income by 67% year-over-year to ₹5 billion (roughly $57 million) within the final fiscal 12 months. The startup initiatives income to surpass ₹7 billion (round $79 million) within the present 12 months. It has been “EBITDA-positive” for the previous couple of years and goals to turn out to be absolutely worthwhile this 12 months.

With the newest funding, the startup plans to go “deeper and wider” by way of the nation and improve buyer expertise and security, in addition to improve its fleet administration know-how.

“One of many larger challenges in in bus mobility throughout the nation that folks have issues about busses. It’s seen as a lesser cousin to trains and flights,” Raizada instructed TechCrunch. “We need to make busses the popular mode of journey in India.”

Greater than 223 million intercity journeys had been made in India within the monetary 12 months 2025, in keeping with a latest report by on-line bus ticketing platform RedBus. The sector added over 72,000 new intercity routes final 12 months, together with roughly 6,400 new buses — increasing capability by an estimated 265,000 each day seats.

Alongside IntrCity SmartBus, India is seeing a wave of new-age intercity bus startups corresponding to ZingBus, LeafyBus, and FreshBus. European large FlixBus additionally entered the Indian market early final 12 months, signaling rising traction within the house. Nonetheless, IntrCity views competitors as secondary to execution.

“India is a really totally different beast relating to street journey. If one thing goes to go improper, it can go improper,” Rathi mentioned. “We’re not a network-first firm. We’re an operational-excellence-first firm.”