Busbud, a worldwide bus travel website, has successfully raised funding of $1 million during a investment round that ended on May 29. The Montreal-based company got its cash injection from iNovia Capital and Real Ventures who also led the round. Other people in on the deal included Managing Partner of the private equity firm InterMedia Partners, Peter Kern, and CEO of Luxury Retreats, Joe Poulin. Along with the money, iNovia’s David Nault and Real Ventures’ JS Cournoyer will be taking a seat on the board of Busbud.
Louis-Philippe Maurice, co-founder and CEO of Busbud, has said that, “As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that the team you build is the company you build, and the same goes for the partners you associate with. Our team has been working very hard to create a great product that solves a real problem for travelers, and we couldn’t dream of a better mix of experience and expertise to take Busbud to the next level.”
Busbud was created in 2011 byt three high caliber entrepreneurs including Harvard educated MBA, Louis-Philippe Maurice, former Microsoft Bing worker, Michael Gradek, and finally Frederic Thouin. The company has ambitions of becoming the main web based tool and mobile app for people and their bus travel needs around the world. TechVibes explains that the service “gives travelers easy access to intercity bus travel information and ticket purchases on the go, gathering intercity bus schedules for 4,379 cities in 66 countries.” Busbud also adds that, “The Busbud.com website is the most comprehensive source of for intercity bus travel information around the world.” They go on to add that information is, “available in 10 languages and 15 currencies. Busbud offers a search tool allowing travelers to discover and plan their next bus trip.”
Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner at iNovia says that, “Busbud is the first service to offer travelers comprehensive access to worldwide bus schedules and ticketing. In a context where the bus industry is largely fragmented, this provides for huge opportunity.” His other board member, Cournoyer, adds that, “Real Ventures is proud to join the Busbud team on their quest to transform the intercity bus industry. LP, Michael and Fred are the archetypal visionary entrepreneurs we like to back.”
The market for the startup is growing and DePaul University is cited by the American Bus Association as reporting that travel with in a city by bus grew by 7.5% in 2012. They added that this makes it “America’s fastest growing form of intercity travel by a comfortable margin.”
Source: TechVibes
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