zingbus and Sheru Join Hands in a Strategic Partnership to Scale Intercity e-Mobility

India's largest branded intercity bus service provider, zingbus, and Sheru, a leading provider of innovative battery management and energy storage solutions, have joined forces in a ground-breaking partnership aimed at scaling e-mobility for intercity commutes.

Nakul Mehan, CTO of Sheru (L) and Prashant Kumar, CEO of Zingbus (R) at the signing of the MoU

Under this strategic partnership, zingbus plans to add 2200 electric buses and 4000 electric cars to its fleet over the next 5 years. zingbus will utilize ScaleBat, Sheru's cutting-edge battery management solution to ensure efficient battery management. ScaleBat offers advanced features for optimizing battery performance, reducing operational costs, and extending battery life, thereby enabling zingbus to maximize the potential of their electric vehicles.

In addition, zingbus will leverage Sheru's NetBat platform to monetize idle time by connecting electric vehicles to Sheru's energy storage network. The cumulative battery capacity of zingbus's electric fleet is estimated to be around 1 GWh. By utilizing NetBat, zingbus can offer energy storage services during periods of low vehicle utilization, unlocking new revenue streams and contributing to efficient management of energy infrastructure.

This partnership upholds zingbus' commitment to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. By scaling its electric fleet, zingbus aims to offset half a million tons of carbon emissions annually, which is equivalent to planting more than 22,000 trees.

"We are thrilled to partner with Sheru to accelerate our transition to sustainable intercity transportation," said Prashant Kumar, co-founder & CEO of zingbus. "With their expertise in battery management and energy storage solutions, we are confident that we can drive innovation together and create a greener future for the transportation industry."

"We are excited to collaborate with zingbus in their ambitious electrification journey," said Nakul Mehan, CTO of Sheru. "Highways form 60% of emissions from transportation in India. zingbus has immense potential to lead sustainability for highways, being the most trusted brand in intercity commuting.”

About zingbus:

Founded in 2019, zingbus is the largest tech-based intercity bus service provider in India with an established network of 350+ buses catering to over 500 cities. Having served more than 3 Million customers, zingbus serves 18 states spread across Northern, Western & Southern regions of India. Garnering a strong foothold in the intercity travel domain, the company believes that the right to affordable & dignified travel is fundamental to human existence & development. zingbus is the future of Indian intercity travel dedicated to serving and ensuring a safe, reliable, affordable, and sustainable travel option for mankind.

About Sheru:

Sheru is a leading provider of innovative battery management and energy storage solutions. Their cutting-edge products and services cater to battery manufacturers, financiers, resellers, and distribution companies. Sheru's expertise in battery management, energy storage, and sustainable mobility is driving the transition towards a cleaner and more efficient future.

zingbus Launches India’s 1st Ever ‘Pay at Bus’ Facility For Its Customers

India’s leading surface mobility brand, zingbus launches first-of-its-kind ‘Pay at Bus’ facility for its customers. The new service facilitates zingbus customers to book their travel ticket(s) online through app or web, and pay the amount of their ticket while boarding the bus.

Image - zingbus.com

zingbus has deployed the ‘Pay at Bus’ facility on every route and services starting with Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab belt. The new service facility enables those customers who are not comfortable with pre-payments or digital payments, to book and travel with zingbus ease free.

Speaking on the new launch, Prashant Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, zingbus, highlighted: “Nearly 83% of Indian consumers are still inclined towards paying cash for any service or product. While the future is ‘Digital India’ with the amalgamation of technology and advanced services, this major chunk of consumers still hesitate to trust & rely on a brand in terms of digital monetary payments. From 3Mn+ zingbus customer base, 72% of consumers hail from tier ⅔ cities & towns, and with the launch of ‘Pay at Bus’ we are aligned to grow the tech cohort of the nation, including those stranded groups of offline users, giving them an opportunity to first-hand experience and understand the brand features and benefits, and then pay for the experience.”

The dynamics of the ‘Pay at Bus’ facility is equivalent to that of the “Cash on Delivery” facility prompted by the e-commerce industry. However, with the integration of ‘Pay at Bus’, zingbus focuses on offering the generation x of India, a more flexible payment mode for their travel needs. The new launch aims to bridge the gap between the brand & its customers, building a secured bond of trust between the two. Moreover, since the integration of this feature, zingbus has witnessed more than 15% increase in the App bookings.

zingbus is confident to raise a revolution in the Indian travel industry with progressive technology based features and ‘Pay at Bus’ is merely the beginning of a changed ecosystem of the Indian intercity travel market. zingbus is gradually building the most preferred mobility brand of India, dominating the Indian intercity industry.

About zingbus:

Founded in 2019, zingbus is the largest tech-based intercity bus service provider in India with an established network of 350+ buses catering to over 500 Cities. Having served more than 3 Million customers, zingbus serves 18 states spread across Northern, Western & Southern regions of India. Garnering a strong foothold in the intercity travel domain, the company believes that the right to affordable & dignified travel is fundamental to human existence & development. zingbus is the future of the Indian intercity travel dedicated to serve, ensuring a safe, reliable and affordable travel option for mankind.

Intercity Bus Travel Start-up, Zingbus Upscales Its Operations in Delhi, Launches Premium Lounge at Anand Vihar

The premium lounge will cater to travellers' needs with food court, travel shop, free Wi-Fi & cloakroom, among others. 

zingbus, India’s leading bus travel brand, solely focused on improving the intercity travel domain, is all set to expand its operations in the capital city of Delhi. Launches a premium new lounge at Anand Vihar. The purpose is to make travellers’ journey further convenient and comfortable, providing a clean and hygienic place.

Zingbus Anand Vihar Lounge

The premium lounge offers facilities like food court, travel shop, device charging points, free Wi-Fi, cloakroom, clean washroom, among others. The launch of the lounge is integral to offer the much required break that travellers look for while option for a long journey.

As a part of the plan to launch 30 premium lounges across the nation, the Anand Vihar lounge provides a clean and safe environment for every bypasser to rest and refresh. Located next to EDM Mall, Anand Vihar Metro Station"Anand Vihar, Delhi, the lounge has a seating capacity of 30 people, offering a pleasant and enriching experience to everyone.

Anand Vihar, Delhi stands to be a crucial location on the zingbus network connecting majo cities like Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Deoria, Agra, Bareilly, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Saharanpur, Rampur, Meerut & Muzaffarnagar.

Commenting on the launch, Mratunjay Beniwal, Director and Co-Founder, zingbus said, “We are excited to launch our premium lounge in one of the busiest transit points of Delhi. It would serve as a prominent location for every passerby offering a great connectivity to some major travel destinations. Further, being convenient & safe, it would provide the bus commuters a peaceful and enjoyable experience. This lounge is a gift to the spirit of travel, opened for all travellers passing through the route.”

Since its inception, zingbus has served more than 2.5 Million passengers. The intercity mobility start-up has grown 14x in the last year, ensuring its travellers a safe, reliable and affordable intercity commute. zingbus also has lounges in Ahmedabad, Manali, Gorakhpur, jaipur, Amritsar & Lucknow, with two existing lounges in Delhi located at Majnu Ka Tila and R.K Ashram.

Intercity Bus Startup Zingbus to Double its Headcount to Aid to Its Exponential Growth

New Delhi, 24th June 2021: zingbus, India's largest intercity bus startup, has announced hiring talents to strengthen its team further. The platform is hiring across functions and is looking for passionate people to join the company for senior and mid-senior positions in different roles.

The firm has recently recruited candidates across the technology, product and data team. The team members who joined zingbus have prior experience working with Shell, Rakuten, ICICI, Amazon, MakeMyTrip, and other startups. A few ex-founders have also joined the team at Entrepreneur-in-Residence roles.

Speaking on the expansion of the team, Prashant Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, zingbus, said, "We are hiring across functions and are looking for passionate people to join our team for various roles and positions. Ours is a young and dynamic team which is one of our strengths. Not only have we adopted more flexible working hours for our employees, but this has also allowed us to hire from across the globe."

With an existing team of more than 50 people, the startup plans to increase the strength by 100% by the end of this year. In addition, during the pandemic, zingbus has taken various steps to boost employee morale like flexible working hours, complimentary leave policy, mental wellness coaching, Covid insurance for dependents, and vaccination for employees.

About zingbus:

Founded by Prashant Kumar, Mratunjay, and Ravi Kumar Verma in 2019, zingbus aims to Change the Way India Travels. The company is already the highest-rated branded bus line in the country across digital platforms and social media. zingbus aggregates fleets of buses to deliver end-to-end standardized intercity travel experience at affordable prices. The emerging brand in the intercity bus services believes that the Right to affordable and dignified travel is fundamental to human existence and development and aspires to provide access to safe, reliable, and affordable travel to everyone.

website: https://www.zingbus.com/

Intercity Bus Startup, Zingbus Raises Funding from Y Combinator

• Funds will be utilized in building a technology stack
• To increase its operational footprint across the country
• To provide safe & reliable travel services to the customers

10th March 2021, New Delhi: zingbus, one of India's leading travel startups, has announced that the company has raised an undisclosed amount of funding as a part of Y Combinator's winter 2021 batch of startups. The Silicon Valley-based startup incubator Y Combinator selects a group of early-stage startups twice a year, mentors them over a period of three months and invests $125K in them. Airbnb and Doordash, two of YC’s portfolio companies, went for IPO recently. Among other Indian startups that the fund has backed in the past, the most popular are Cleartax, Razorpay, Meesho, Khatabook, Groww, Cashfree and OkCredit.

(L-R)mratunjay-beniwal, ravi-kumar-verma-and-prashant-kumar-co-founders-zingbus

The funds will be used to strengthen zingbus's presence in existing cities and expand to new geographies. A significant part of the funds will also be utilized in building a technology stack that will allow the platform to deliver a better experience to travellers.

Speaking about travel in the post-pandemic world, Prashant Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, zingbus, said, "Safety inside the coach has been a huge concern for travellers post-pandemic. We have deployed multiple tool kits for the bus crew to ensure that every trip was sanitized and all safety norms were followed every time. This has not only reassured the faith of travellers in zingbus, but also helped in dissipating the taboo associated with travel."

Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO Better Capital, quoted, “Bus travel is large and growing but incredibly broken in terms of the experience for travellers, crew as well as the owners. The missing piece is the technology that removes friction and enhances the experience for all parties. That is exactly what Zingbus is doing and scaling its reach across India and Bharat delivering great impact.”

Anupam Mittal, CEO People Group, said, “With large parts of travel and commute getting organized and having already moved online, it is only a matter of time before inter-city bus travel gets disrupted. This market segment has witnessed massive value creation internationally, and I am confident zingbus will do the same in India. Prashant and his team at zingbus are revolutionizing bus travel by offering experiences - standardization, service and safety - that users have come to expect in other segments, and I think this will be the next exciting story in travel.”

Barely a few weeks back, zingbus raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Arora Ventures, Titan Capital, Better Capital, Venture Catalysts, Anupam Mittal and other marquee investors. zingbus currently enables more than 2,000 daily journeys across Delhi/NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu, Haryana, and Punjab.

About zingbus:

Founded by Prashant Kumar, Mratunjay and Ravi Kumar Verma in 2019, zingbus aims to Change the Way India Travels. The company is already the highest-rated branded bus line in the country across digital platforms and social media. zingbus aggregates fleets of buses to deliver end-to-end standardized intercity travel experience at affordable prices. The emerging brand in the intercity bus services believes that the Right to affordable and dignified travel is fundamental to human existence and development and aspires to provide access to safe, reliable and affordable travel to everyone.

Bus Aggregator Zingbus Raises Funding from Venture Catalysts, Titan Capital, AdvantEdge founders and Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal

India’s largest intercity bus aggregator zingbus secures an undisclosed pre-Series A investment from Venture Catalysts, Titan Capital, AdvantEdge founders and Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal

The funding round also saw participation from Better Capital, Anupam Mittal (Founder & CEO – People Group), Smile Internet, MG Group, and several other marquee angel investors

New Delhi, February 08, 2021: zingbus, one of India’s leading travel start-ups focusing on improving the levels of quality and safety in the intercity bus travel space, has recently secured an undisclosed pre-Series A investment led by Venture Catalysts, Titan Capital, and Better Capital, along with Ritesh Agarwal (Founder – Oyo) and Anupam Mittal (Founder & CEO – People Group). The funding round also saw participation from 9Unicorns accelerator fund, AdvantEdge Founders, Smile Internet, MG Group, and several other marquee angel investors.

Co-founded in 2019 by IIT Kharagpur graduates Prashant Kumar and Mratunjay along with Ravi Kumar Verma, zingbus aims to build India’s largest and most trusted consumer brand for intercity mobility. It currently enables 2,000+ daily journeys across Delhi/NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu, Haryana, and Punjab. The platform will utilize the funds to increase its operational footprint across the country and expand the scale of its fleet operations to 500 buses, with a view of fulfilling 1 million safe and hassle-free journeys in the next 12 months.

Speaking about the funding, Prashant Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO - zingbus, said, "We believe that the right to affordable and dignified travel is fundamental to human existence and development, and so aspire to provide access to safe, reliable, and affordable travel to everyone. We are delighted to have the support of industry leaders, and our journey looks bright under their guidance. With almost 10 million daily intercity bus rides in India, the overall market is worth $15 billion at present and is growing at a CAGR of 18%. About 25% of this market is semi-deluxe, air-conditioned buses, which will be zingbus's focus area for the next few years.”

Ravi Kumar Verma, Co-Founder & CTO – zingbus, added, “A major part of the funds will be utilized in building a technology stack that will allow us to deliver 10x better experience to travelers at 10% lesser fares and scale up to become the largest intercity bus fleet operator in the country.”

Mratunjay, Co-founder and COO – zingbus. said, "Travelers love the zingbus experience, and we are launching new services every week and shipping new products every fortnight. If anything, the COVID-19 outbreak has orchestrated a black swan event for startups like us to rise to the occasion and create technology that will be the preferred enabler for a future of safe and reliable travel,"

Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma – Co-founder and President, Venture Catalysts, stated, "zingbus is already India’s highest-rated branded bus line that aggregates fleets of buses to deliver end-to-end and standardized intercity travel experiences at affordable prices. The platform has the potential to revolutionize the intercity travel services space in India and we are delighted to provide the support it needs to grow and scale its operations."

Bipin Shah, Partner – Titan Capital, said, "zingbus's technology provides a much better online presence as compared to traditional bus operators. It also reaches the end-customer digitally in a more effective manner. The brand has emerged as the most affordable service provider on popular routes through its unique route designs and dynamic pricing algorithms."

Kunal Khattar, Managing Partner & Investorpreneur – AdvantEdge Technology Founders, said, "zingbus is a true differentiator in its space, guided by its founders who hold profound domain insights and years of experience in the intercity travel industry. zingbus runs buses on specially designed routes which permit it to optimize the usage of assets and cater to more travelers per bus per day."

Taking insights from global players such as Flixbus, zingbus plans to run 2,500 buses across all the country's major travel corridors within the next three years. The platform is launching new services every week and shipping new products every fortnight. Even though the travel industry was severely impacted due to the pandemic, zingbus has emerged as a clear winner that drove growth by enabling the traditional fleet owners struggling to cope with emerging operational challenges with minimum manpower investment.