Zeelo Acquires Kura to Accelerate Growth and Profitability

Zeelo has acquired UK-based Kura, a specialist in school transportation and transport safeguarding software. 

The acquisition furthers Zeelo’s position as the UK market leader in the Corporate and Education transportation markets with the news coming after a recently announced $14m fundraise to further UK profitability and drive our rapid expansion in the US.

Founded in the UK in 2010, Kura is a market leader in the Education transportation space, with its technology consisting of a SaaS and TaaS platform, providing enhanced safeguarding features designed to provide Schools and Colleges with safe, efficient and sustainable transportation programs. Kura also provides employee shuttle and Charter transport services for companies across the UK.

The combined businesses will have the largest virtual bus operation in the UK, with over 220 customers, 450 operator partners and 40,000 daily riders using the platform, serving an impressive pool of Education clients in the UK including Hartpury College and Warwick Schools Foundation.

Our Co Founder & CEO, Sam Ryan had this to say about the acquisition; ‘After our recent $14M fundraise announcement, I’m delighted to be sharing the news of further growth through the acquisition of Kura. We were impressed with the world class technology and the high quality service delivery provided by the Kura team. Their complimentary business model will further accelerate our profitability in the UK. This is the first of many M&A opportunities that will play an important role in our growth strategy as we continue to scale in the UK and US markets.’

You can see our CEO, Sam Ryan’s full piece here on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/zeelo-acquires-kura-leading-uk-provider-school-technology-sam-ryan-1gnwe/

Kura’s CEO, Godfrey Ryan, said, ‘This is a fantastic outcome for the Kura team and we’re delighted to be joining forces with Sam and the team at Zeelo. From day 1, Kura has had the vision to provide sustainable, efficient and safe transportation programs for our clients and I know the Zeelo team shares this same vision. I’m excited to be working as one team as we continue to serve our fantastic customers across the UK’.

The acquisition further supports Zeelo’s growth strategy and widens our product offering to clients. As part of the acquisition, customers can now utilize a dedicated charter team for team events, transfers and school trips as well as benefiting from Kura’s innovative SaaS offering, designed to digitize existing bus operations and provide their clients with the latest safeguarding features.

We plan to continue to invest in SaaS product development and are already piloting the offering with corporate clients and fleet operators across the US market as part of our exciting expansion plans.

Kura’s clients will be able to benefit from Zeelo’s routing algorithm ‘RINA’, which uses data to optimize bus programs, saving clients up to 43% on their billing and increasing ridership by 50%

Investment will also continue in the electrification of bus programs, as we aim to transition all services to net-zero emission battery-electric vehicles by 2030. Currently, 10% of our UK clients have already made the switch to electric buses, including leading Schools such as Dwight School.

Sam Ryan, Co Founder & CEO of Zeelo continued ‘With a fast-growing US business, a profitable UK business and a pipeline of M&A opportunities across both markets, we are excited about what the future holds for Zeelo as we continue on our mission. We’re delighted to have the Kura team on board for the journey ahead’

You can read the full press release here: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/transit-tech-company-zeelo-acquires-kura-to-accelerate-growth-and-profitability-302050512.html

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