Jatri, a Bangladesh-based public transportation platform, has announced raising fresh funds in a Series A round anchored by venture capital firm SBK Tech, which is an existing investor.
The startup did not disclose the amount it raised in the latest round but said the latest funding brings its total funds raised to date to $5.25 million.
Global investors, including ALSA, Genting Ventures, DVC, and Doha Tech Angels also participated in the funding round, which the company said was oversubscribed.
In 2021, Jatri raised $1.2 million in a pre-Series A round from Reflect Ventures, Brain-Too-Free Ventures, and SBK Tech Ventures. The startup also raised a seed funding round in 2020 from Superangel, Falcon Network, and Tahseen Consulting, along with several investors.
The fresh funding will be used to expand Jatri’s operations to new cities and augment its existing services in Bangladesh, where the mass transit sector has long been characterised by overcrowded buses, inconsistent fares, and premium charges by conductors.
Jatri was founded by Aziz Arman, Khandokar Taswar Zahin, and Zia Uddin in early 2019 to make travelling by public transport more comfortable in one of the most densely-populated countries in the world.
Since its inception, the company has supported digitalising of operations wıth thousands of bus partners and processed over 100 million ticket sales. Recently, the Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association announced Jatri as its exclusive e-ticketing partner, starting with 5,650 buses operating in Dhaka city.
“This fresh round of funding will allow us to continue to build momentum to create the 2.0 version of the mass public transport system,” said Jatri CEO Aziz Arman.
Per the announcement, Jatri is currently focused on integrating digital payment options to enable cashless payment in an industry that has historically relied heavily on cash transactions.
“Mass mobility is a multibillion market opportunity that was inefficient, opaque, and largely unbankable; this is an industry ripe for digital transformation and will lead to a cashless, Smart Bangladesh,” said Sonia Bashir Kabir, managing partner of lead investor SBK Tech, which has offices in both Singapore and Bangladesh.