ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-based mobility startup BusCaro announced this week it had raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Orbit Startups with participation from Wahed Ventures and angel investors.
BusCaro aims to bridge the gap between Pakistan’s dilapidated public transport system and its often too-expensive taxis, rideshares and rickshaws. The business, now operating in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, aims to team up with Pakistan’s 40,000 minivan and minibus drivers and find them passengers by doing deals with partners such as employers and schools. A typical trip using BusCaro will cost the passenger – or the partner paying the fare – around Rs150 rupees but would cost Rs800 in a rideshare vehicle or Rs1,400 rupees in a cab.
“Navigating the challenges and doubling down on the impact — BusCaro closes a successful pre-seed funding round,” the startup announced on Linkedin. “We thank our exceptional team, partners, and investors for their unwavering support and for propelling us to greater heights!”
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/buscaro_how-buscaro-is-making-transport-i...
“When we fill the bus, the driver earns more than from driving the odd passenger, and the passenger gets a lower fare,” BusCaro CEO Maha Shahzad, who founded the business in October 2022, told Forbes. “Most importantly of all, the customer gets to their destination safely.”
With 20,000 bookings a day, BusCaro is on target to break into profitability during the first quarter of 2024, Shahzad added, with a huge potential to expand. Across the three cities in which the company operates, the target market totals up to eight million passengers.
William Bao Bean, managing general partner at Orbit Startups, told Frobes he was attracted to the business by its sense of purpose as well as its growth potential.
“Diversity and inclusion are tough to achieve when women have to spend north of 30 percent of their salary on getting to work in a safe and predictable way,” he said. “We backed BusCaro because it enables women and men to book safe, inexpensive and efficient shared transport to and from work, driving opportunities and opening up the overall economy.”
Orbit’s finance will help BusCaro to invest in further improvements to its technology stack, with Shahzad keen to build new functionality for passengers and partners as the business expands. The company has also begun to eye international expansion.
