Rocket Internet’s ClickBus scoops up $10M to make bus trip booking better

ClickBus, an online booking platform for bus travel, announced $10 million in funding from investors Latin America Internet Group, Tengelmann Ventures, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Rocket Internet. It plans to use the capital to grow in existing markets, invest in technology, and continue expanding. The Rocket startup was founded one year ago and is now present in seven countries.

ClickBus wants to bring the sale of bus tickets online, which presents both challenges and great potential for the startup. It reports that 120 million passengers travel annually by bus in Brazil, however, less than 5 percent of bus tickets are sold over the internet. Brazil was the starting point for ClickBus’ business, and it has since has expanded at a pace customary for Rocket ventures to Mexico, Germany, Poland, and Thailand. Now, the bus booking platform is available in Turkey and Pakistan.

According to ClickBus, it has sold close to 1 million tickets by offering trips to more than 8,000 destinations in its first year of operations.

Cesário Martins, Global co-chief executive and co-founder of ClickBus, explains on how ClickBus plans to use the funding: “‘The funding’ will allow us to continue our growth trajectory in existing markets and advance our technology, especially in the field of M-Commerce, where we will launch apps for iOS and Android shortly. The new round of funding will also allow us to tackle further markets, which are mostly in the offline realm.”

ClickBus currently has around 100 employees worldwide.

This story originally appeared on VentureVillage. Copyright 2014