Bangladesh-based ride-hailing and ticketing platform Shohoz has reportedly secured funds amounting to $15 million in pre-series B financing round. This funding round was led by Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures.
The other backers that participated in this round included Linear VC, 500 Startups and Singaporean angel investor Koh Boon Hwee. The funds so raised by the company are being planned to be used in the expansion of its services as well as to fight against rival Pathao. Also, it will use a part of the fresh capital for customer acquisition and retention and expand into other on-demand services.
“Bus tickets will remain an important part of our business, [there’s] lots of synergy with ride-sharing,” CEO Maliha Quadir stated. “Dhaka has a super dense population with bad infrastructure, if anything there’s a better case for ride-sharing than Indonesia… there’s no subway and transport is a horrid nightmare.”
Established in 2014, Shohoz offers online bus ticket sales before expanding into other tickets like ferries. The firm introduced on-demand services in January when it brought in motorbikes and then recently launched private cars as well. The company claims to have been registering one million completed rides per month.
Shohoz’s major rivals in Bangladesh include Uber and local firm Pathao, which is backed by Indonesian ride-hailer Go-Jek and claims a valuation of over US$100 million after its recently raised $10 million.
“It’s in my mind but there’s so much to do in Bangladesh,” Quadir explained. “In Bangladesh, you can really make an impact — it’s a green field.” The CEO also stated that Shohoz is planning to double down on its ride-sharing business with the new round and also to expand beyond Dhaka soon.