Bengaluru-based shared last-mile connectivity provider Loca has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its first round of investment. The participants in the investment round were Stellaris Venture Partners, China-based Fosun RZ Capital and a bunch of individuals including Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder of Taxiforsure, Mayank Bidwatka, co-founder of Vokal and Rohit MA co-founder of Cloud Nine. Although the startup hasn’t shared the amount of capital raised, according to sources privy to the matter told that Loca had raised around $5 million in this round.

Loca plans to invest the funds in expanding its presence to all major metro stations in Bengaluru. Additionally, it wants to build its tech and operations teams. It also has plans to expand its operation to new cities. The startup is also targeting to operate in New Delhi by early next year. The company conducted field trials for more than nine months, developing Loca’s ride-sharing algorithm, before launching the services in April 2019. The startup was co-founded by Gautam Patil and Krishnakumar Ramachandran.

In a statement, the company highlighted that the micro-mobility market in India sees around 100 million trips per day; however, it feels that this market is unreliable and unaffordable currently. Loca also shared that it was this gap that encouraged the startup to set up local networks of shared mobility with a fleet of minivans and cars, dynamically routed based on real-time demand. The company claims the average Loca user gets into a cab within 2.5 minutes of getting out of the metro, even during peak hours. It also believes that the service value at its current price point can help the company build a large scale set up across India. Currently, Loca only operates from four Bengaluru metro stations – Indiranagar, Yelachenahalli, Mysore Road and Vijaynagar.