• Optibus, a mobility planning and management platform specializing in city-based bus travel, has raised USD 100 million in Series D funding. This included participation from returning investors such as Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Verizon Ventures, and Pitango Venture Capital as well as new investors like Tencent. This brings the total funds raised to USD 260 million.

• The firm was also valued at USD 1.3 billion, which is more than double the valuation received at its last fundraising round in March 2021 where it was speculated to be valued at between USD 400 million and USD 500 million. The firm also claims that it is the first startup in the multimodal mobility management space to achieve unicorn status. 

• The funding is to be used to expand its product and service offering to include real-time operations and electric vehicle management and to strengthen its global expansion. 

• The firm also announced the launch of “Ridership Insights,” a new rider analytics solution that provides granular data on routes and usage to help transport operators make informed decisions.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: The more than doubling of Optibus’s valuation underlies the confidence shown by investors in Optibus’s product and service offerings as well as its global growth potential. This was evident in the firm’s recent actions, which include the acquisition of multimodal mobility information platform Trilium to drive its North American expansion and its expansion into Latin America , bringing its total global presence to more than 1,000 cities.</ul>