Japan-based SmartRyde,
a marketplace offering pre-booked airport transfers, has raised $3.4 million in
Series A+ funding.
The round is a
third-party allocation of shares led by NVenture Capital Limited with participation
from SMBC Venture Capital, Yamaguchi Capital, Hiroshima Venture Capital,
Shigagin Regional Revitalization SD Fund and Iyogin Capital and includes a
subordinated loan from Japan Finance Corp.
Along with the
funding, SmartRyde has created an API so online travel agencies and airlines
can connect directly to its global network to easily offer pre-booked airport
transfers in their booking flows.
“We feel the increasing need of providing pre-booked airport
transfers by OTAs,” said Sota Kimura, SmartRyde founder and CEO.
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“This is because OTAs want to lead cross-selling and generate new
income. Unfortunately, so far, it has not been easy to integrate for selling
pre-booked airport transfers, so we have developed the developer portal.”
Kimura said he wants
SmartRyde to become a “global distribution system” for airport transfers, with
connections to all types of travel sellers for airport transfer reservations
and to help the taxi and limousine industry streamline their inventory
management.
Founded in
2017, SmartRyde works with more than 700 airport transportation providers in
more than 150 countries, with bookings offered through more than 40 OTAs such has Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, Traveloka and Despegar.
In October 2021,
the startup
raised $1.6 million in a Series A round. With this new funding, Kimura said
the company will invest in expanding its team and in product development. He
said they will also begin working with taxi operators in Japan to help them digitize
their operations using a soon-to-launch SmartRyde supplier portal.