IntrCity SmartBus, the tech-driven intercity bus startup transforming long-distance travel in India, has raised $30 million in Series D funding, pushing its valuation to $140 million post-money. The new all-equity round, led by A91 Partners, will help the company strengthen its footprint across smaller cities and towns while upgrading its technology and passenger experience.
India’s intercity mobility market is undergoing rapid change as millions travel between smaller towns and big cities for work, education, and healthcare. With the government expanding national highways by over 60% in the past decade, from 56,723 miles to 90,847 miles, road transport has become the most scalable alternative to India’s overburdened rail network.
While state-run bus systems remain central to affordable mobility, they often fall short in comfort and reliability. That’s where IntrCity SmartBus is gaining ground, offering a tech-enabled, safety-focused, and data-driven intercity travel experience for India’s growing middle class.
Founded in 2019, IntrCity SmartBus started as RailYatri, an online platform that helped travelers book train tickets and access live travel data. The founding team’s early insight into India’s travel behavior revealed an unmet need for reliable and affordable intercity road transport.
Building on this understanding, co-founders Manish Rathi and Kapil Raizada launched SmartBus to modernize long-distance bus travel through a technology-first approach.
The company operates on an asset-light model by partnering with local bus operators instead of owning fleets. Each vehicle is equipped with proprietary IoT hardware for real-time tracking, route optimization, and passenger monitoring.
Raizada explained that all buses are cloud-connected through an in-house operating system that tracks parameters such as CCTV feeds, sound, and temperature to ensure service quality. IntrCity also centralizes ticketing, scheduling, and route planning via its digital platform, enabling data-driven decisions on seat layouts, pickup points, and service frequency.
The company’s network spans 15 Indian states and up to 14 key economic hubs, connecting routes from Jammu to Karnataka under a hub-and-spoke model.
The startup’s focus extends well beyond software. Each SmartBus includes a trained “captain” to assist passengers and maintain service consistency throughout the journey.
Many buses feature clean washrooms, and passengers can board through air-conditioned lounges staffed with ground crews, delivering a level of comfort rarely seen in Indian bus travel.
The platform currently runs about 600 trips daily, transporting 20,000 to 25,000 passengers each day, or close to 700,000 monthly. Around 95% of these trips are overnight, serving professionals, students, and small business owners who travel for work, education, or essential needs.
Manish Rathi noted that significant data analysis goes into understanding what passengers prefer, influencing everything from bus layout to route frequency. This focus on optimization has helped the company grow rapidly. IntrCity’s revenue jumped 67% year over year, reaching ₹5 billion ($57 million) in the last fiscal year. It expects to cross ₹7 billion ($79 million) this year and has remained EBITDA-positive for two consecutive years, with full profitability in sight.
India’s intercity bus sector is expanding quickly. Data from redBus shows that over 223 million intercity journeys took place in FY2025 alone. The industry added 72,000 new routes and 6,400 new buses last year, increasing capacity by about 265,000 daily seats. The surge in demand has attracted both domestic and international players, including startups like Zingbus, LeafyBus, and Fresh Bus, alongside European operator FlixBus, which entered the Indian market last year.
Despite this competition, IntrCity’s founders remain focused on operations rather than rivalry. Rathi emphasized that India’s road network presents unique challenges, making execution more important than scale. “We’re not a network-first company,” he said. “We’re an operational-excellence-first company.” With its latest funding, IntrCity SmartBus aims to expand deeper into smaller towns, improve passenger safety, and further enhance its fleet management technology.
The founders hope to change how people perceive bus travel, which is still seen as a less desirable option compared to trains or flights. Their goal is to make road travel not just affordable, but dependable and comfortable for millions across India. As Raizada put it, the company’s mission is clear: to make buses the preferred mode of intercity travel in India.
