Singapore ride-hailing app Ryde has raised an undisclosed sum from investment firm Nomad X, according to a Business Times report.
Ryde has also appointed Nomad X’s director and chief investment officer, Tan Suan Jin, as its chairman. The fundraising proceeds will be used to expand operations, execute new features, boost payments systems, and deepen technical expertise.
DEALSTREETASIA has written to Ryde for more details about the funding round.
According to CrunchBase, Ryde last raised a $1.5-million seed round in 2015 from strategic angel and private investors. In 2016, Ryde was reportedly raising its Series A round. It did not disclose how much it was aiming to raise.
Ryde is up against significantly larger competitors such as regional players Grab and Go-Jek. These companies are backed by large investors and are in the midst of raising $5 billion and $2 billion respectively.
In March last year, Ryde launched its private-hire car service, RydeX, taking advantage of Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asian business. Indonesia-based Go-Jek similarly embarked on a region-wide expansion drive at that time. It has since entered Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand and has plans to expand to other markets like the Philippines and Myanmar this year.
As of March last year, Ryde said it had a combined fleet of over 55,000 drivers comprising both private cars and taxis in Singapore. It has also partnered with local taxi operator ComfortDelGro to expand its network and operations.