Brazilian startup Yellow has acquired a seed funding of $9 million for its dockless bike-sharing service; the first of its kind in Brazil. Yellow was founded by Ariel Lambrecht and Renato Freitas, who are also the co-Founders of 99, along with Eduardo Musa, the former owner and CEO of Brazilian bike manufacturer Caloi.
“As local residents, we’re acutely aware of the pain points caused by Brazil’s inefficient public transit and we built Yellow specifically to address them,” Intelligent Transport quoted Eduardo Musa, co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Yellow. “Our goal is to improve circulation of urban traffic and curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions by providing a fun, cost-effective mode of transportation that integrates with other public transit systems to optimize daily routes in big cities.”
The funding round was led by Monashees and Grishin Robotics.
While Brazil has been reeling under criticism for poor public transport, Yellow claims to deliver a low-cost, technology-enabled solution. Yellow plans to use the funds for expansion of its team, further development in its mobile app, and delivering 20,000 bicycles to Sao Paulo this summer. It has planned for 100,000 bicycles for Sao Paolo before spreading out to the entire Brazil increasing their number to 1 million.