Zeelo closes £1.2m investment round to 'change the way you travel'

Zeelo, an on-demand coach service, has closed a £1.2m seed round.

The round was led by InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s mobility venture arm, alongside other investors including Travel Republic’s founder Kane Pirie, TfL’s board member Michael Leibreich, and Yo! Sushi’s co-founder Simon Woodroffe.

Founded in London earlier this year, Zeelo uses big data and machine learning to understand where surges in travel demand aren’t met by existing transport options. This intelligence allows the company to provide direct coach routes cutting travel time.

Barney Williams, co-founder of Zeelo, said: “People want new, more convenient ways to travel between cities, to events and to work.

“Zeelo’s whole model is built around the needs of the customer: using data to understand their journeys. We’ve made a good start with major events, but now it’s about giving more people access to the Zeelo experience and replicating our technology across different markets.”

The company’s platform integrates with 20,000 executive coaches across the UK, and has carried over 20,000 customers since its launch focusing on large events. It now plans to use the funding through its technology across different markets in the UK and Europe.

Zeelo co-founders Barney Williams, Sam Ryan and Dani Ruiz sold their previous startup JumpIn, a taxi booking and sharing app for students, to Addison Lee in 2014 - whilst studying at university.

Since February 2017, Zeelo has been working with football clubs such as Aston Villa, Man City and Wolverhampton to give fans a more convenient and direct route to the games.

Sam Ryan added: “Now it’s about scaling up fast and showing exactly what Zeelo technology can do.

“Our platform allows specific communities to book seats on our data driven routes, whilst we’ll also cater for groups who want to go from A to B in a cost effective and hassle free manner. We need to remodel an £1.8bn industry that’s remained unchanged for far too long.”

Zeelo is backed by InMotion Ventures, the venture capital business powered by Jaguar Land Rover, as part of its mission to improve the way people move.

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