Japanese airport transportation marketplace bags $1.6m in series A round

SmartRyde, a Japan-based marketplace for airport transportation, raised US$1.6 million in a series A round led by Angel Bridge.

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Other investors that participated in the round include SG Incubate, Yamaguchi Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, Hiroshima Venture Capital, Iyogin Capital, Inventum Ventures, Optima Ventures, and serial entrepreneur Shoji Kodama.

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Airport transportation / Image credit: SmartRyde

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Founded by Sota Kimura in 2017, SmartRyde allows travelers to book transportation to and from airports. As of August, it has collaborated with over 650 transportation operators and 25 online travel agents (OTAs), including Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, Indonesia-based Traveloka, and Argentina-based firm Despegar.

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The platform is currently available in 700 airports across the world.

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When the Covid-19 pandemic spread in March 2020, SmartRyde said in a statement that it experienced a significant decrease in reservations. However, the number has been rising since December 2020.

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The company plans to use the fresh funds to strengthen its system integration with OTAs and build a booking management system for transportation operators.