Yang Li
DaDaBus, a major player in the bus-hailing arena, has raised nearly RMB 200 million (USD 31 million) in a Series B funding, Tencent Tech reported on Tuesday.
Investors include Northern Light Venture Capital and JingQiao Ventures – a newly founded company focusing on the internet transportation industry.
Founded this March, DaDaBus has more than 1.5 million registered users. The company raised USD 787,000 from angel investors and USD 5.8 million in a Series A round within 40 days, according to the company’s official announcement.
Passengers, in order to acquire seats, need to book through the app ahead of schedule. DaDaBus sets ticket fees according to distance with each kilometer costing RMB 0.4, Sohu Tech reports.
Zhou Ruijin, founder and CEO of DaDaBus, is an entrepreneur who previously worked as CMO of China beauty portal Meilapp.com.
DaDaBus has opened more than 2000 routes since it launched in March 2015. The routes cover 13 major cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. It is said DaDaBus will cover 30 major cities by the end of this year.
This month, DaDaBus established strategic partnerships with VisionChina Media and Longfan Media. “We will put more effort into our advertising distribution channels,” said Zhou.
Bus-hailing companies are competing with each other. According to iFeng Tech, Shenzhen-based bus commuting startup, DuduBus, raised RMB 52 million (USD 8.2 million) in a Series A funding a week ago.
Around the same time, Koala Bus, a bus-hailing company with 5000 orders per day, merged with Didi Bus, a part of the Didi Chuxing platform.
Didi Chuxing, run by Didi Kuaidi, is known for its expanded service offerings. The company claims over 80% of the ride-hailing market and serve more than 300 Chinese cities, making it the largest player in the field.