RushOwl raises $500K to expand its ride-sharing business in APAC

Singapore-based smart mobility startup RushOwl has reportedly raised about $500,000 in seed funding led by Silicon Solutions Partners, an investment firm focused on servicing and growing smart city entrepreneurs.

Other backers in the funding round include current investor Seeds Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore) and Workplace Accelerator (an HRtech accelerator).

By 2022, RushOwl intends to use the funds to expand its ride-sharing service RushTrail across the Asia Pacific region, including mass markets such as Vietnam and India.

“We believe that our service will scale exponentially in 2022 because more people are looking at how they can reduce their carbon footprints through their everyday rides,” said Shin Ng, Co-Founder, and CEO of RushOwl.

To support the company’s smart commuting environment, the RushTrail app will be connected with electric car networks and other mobility goods.

RushOwl, which was founded in 2018, works with fleet owners, smart cities, and governments throughout the world to deliver on-demand shuttle trips. Its goal is to create digitized transportation infrastructures that allow commuters to share rides in a flexible and environmentally responsible manner.

The smart mobility startup links first-mile and last-mile journeys of passengers based on their particular schedules via the RushTrail app by integrating ride requests through routing algorithms and using AI to automate transportation arrangements.

Ng added that their goal is to assist cities address inaccessibility, traffic congestion, and air pollution through shared mobility using their technology and traction.

According to the company, it arranges around 3,000 daily journeys around the island. It claims to have seen a 400 percent increase in ridership since the pandemic’s outbreak, as commuters look for a way to go to work.

RushOwl also provides a corporate solution for firms wishing to establish more efficient and flexible worker travel plans. This can be used as an added benefit for employees, resulting in improved performance and job retention.

In a recent public tender organized by Sentosa Development Corporation, the firm apparently acquired an employee transportation contract for over S$700,000 (US$516,000).