Intercity mobility startup IntrCity SmartBus has raised $30 million in an all-equity Series D round led by A91 Partners, valuing the company at $140 million post-money.
The funding will accelerate expansion into smaller cities and towns across India, strengthen technology infrastructure, and enhance passenger experience and safety.
Bridging India’s Intercity Travel Gap
As India’s workforce continues to migrate from small towns to major metros for work and education, intercity travel demand is booming. The country’s national highway network has expanded over 60% in the past decade, reaching 90,847 miles, while the railway system struggles to keep pace with capacity constraints.
This has made long-distance road travel an essential alternative—but traditional, state-run bus services often lack reliability, comfort, and technology. IntrCity SmartBus is tackling that gap by modernizing how India travels between cities.
“We want to make buses the preferred mode of travel in India,” said Kapil Raizada, co-founder and president of IntrCity SmartBus.
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A Smarter, Safer Bus Network
Founded in 2019, IntrCity SmartBus began as a spinoff from the company’s train-booking platform RailYatri, using those insights to understand how Indians move between cities. Today, SmartBus accounts for 90% of total revenue, while RailYatri contributes around 10%.
The company operates an asset-light model, partnering with local bus owners and equipping vehicles with proprietary “SmartBus” hardware for real-time tracking, temperature control, sound monitoring, and CCTV connectivity. All vehicles are cloud-connected and managed through an in-house bus operating system.
Each bus features trained onboard staff—called “captains”—as well as amenities like restrooms and air-conditioned boarding lounges to improve the passenger experience.
“All our buses are connected to the cloud, and our in-house system monitors everything from CCTV to temperature,” said Raizada.
Scaling an Operationally Excellent Network
IntrCity currently runs around 600 trips daily, moving between 20,000 and 25,000 passengers per day—nearly 700,000 per month—across 15 Indian states. It partners with 50+ local operators, primarily serving overnight routes averaging over 500 kilometers (311 miles).
Its core demographic spans ages 20–45, including students, small business owners, sales professionals, government officials, and corporate employees—travelers seeking affordable yet reliable mobility.
The startup follows a hub-and-spoke model, operating across 13–14 of India’s top 16 economic hubs, covering both northern and southern India, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
“We’re not a network-first company—we’re an operational-excellence-first company,” said Manish Rathi, co-founder and CEO. “India is unique when it comes to road travel. Our focus is on getting execution right, every single time.”
Growth, Profitability, and Market Leadership
IntrCity SmartBus grew revenues 67% year-over-year to ₹5 billion (~$57M) in FY2024 and expects to surpass ₹7 billion (~$79M) this fiscal year. The company has been EBITDA-positive for the past two years and aims to achieve full profitability by year-end.
The fresh capital will support:
- Expansion into smaller Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities
- Fleet upgrades with enhanced safety and comfort features
- Investment in technology, including AI-driven route optimization and predictive maintenance
- Customer experience improvements through better booking, boarding, and service touchpoints
A Growing Market for Smart Mobility
India’s intercity bus market is expanding rapidly, with over 223 million intercity journeys made in FY2025, according to RedBus. The sector added 72,000 new routes and 6,400 new buses last year, creating an additional 265,000 daily seats.
Alongside IntrCity SmartBus, emerging players like ZingBus, LeafyBus, and FreshBus, as well as FlixBus’s recent entry into India, are helping redefine road-based travel.
“Wars today are won with logistics and supply chains as much as new platforms,” said Raizada. “We’re building the infrastructure to make sure India is ready—for travelers, for businesses, and for the future of mobility.”
About IntrCity SmartBus
IntrCity SmartBus is a Noida-based intercity mobility platform offering tech-enabled, reliable, and comfortable bus travel across India. Operating under an asset-light model, the company partners with local operators and equips buses with proprietary smart technology for real-time tracking, safety, and passenger comfort.
