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The Rise and Fall of Shuttl 🛺
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Finlay Williams
August 29, 2024
2 minute wacky businesses, you can tell your buddies about 🧠
Let me tell you the story of Shuttl. An Indian startup similar to Uber, but targeting B2B and with buses... Founded in 2015, Shuttl quickly became the go-to option for corporate employees who'd rather not squeeze into a sweaty metro every day. With over $30 million in annual revenue and more than 100,000 daily riders at its peak, Shuttl’s story is one filled with unrealised potential.
Source: Google Trends
Poor Timing and Borrowed Busses 🧐
Shuttl's business model is deceptively simple, aggregate demand for corporate commuting and meet it with a fleet of buses. But there’s a catch, they don’t own the buses. Instead, Shuttl partners with third-party operators, making their model super scalable and capital-light. No need to pour millions into a fleet, they just use other people's.
Shuttl was acquired by Chalo, another transport tech company, in 2021. After the acquisition, Shuttl gradually phased out its services. This was part of a broader play by Chalo to consolidate its presence in the commuter transport space, absorbing Shuttl's assets and user base into pre-existing services.
An ad campaign ran by Shuttl for their women only Shuttles
What are the nuggets? 💎
🛺 Origin: Co-founded by IIT Delhi graduates Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya, Shuttl was born out of frustration with India's chaotic public transportation. They saw an opportunity to create a service that was as reliable as owning a car, but without the hassle (or cost). The goal was to bridge the gap between overcrowded public buses and expensive private cabs.
🛺 Awesome Play: Instead of burning cash on customer acquisition, Shuttl grew by cosying up to companies directly. It’s basically a B2B2C model, where companies bring in the riders, and Shuttl just does what it does best, get people from Point A to Point B. It’s reported that 70% of revenue came from these B2B partnerships.
🛺 Adaptation: In response to safety concerns, Shuttl launched women-only shuttles, tapping into a market that many other transportation services had overlooked. This move not only expanded their customer base but also bolstered their brand reputation, making them a trusted choice for safety-conscious riders.
🛺 Regulatory Hurdles: Operating in India’s chaotic transportation landscape isn't all smooth sailing. Shuttl had to navigate complex regulatory environments, facing pushback from traditional bus operators and local governments. These challenges forced them to get creative, working closely with regulators, lobbying for policy changes, and sometimes even bending a few rules. Which is pretty funny, given its striking resemblance to how Travis Kalanick would brute force Uber into new cities.
🛺 Funding: With over $122 million raised from investors like Amazon and Sequoia, Shuttl’s war chest is impressive. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit just before the boom for Shuttl. They were loaded up on capital in 2019 and went head first into a revenue drought.
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