Montréal-based ground travel booking platform Busbud has acquired Brazilian bus booking marketplace Buson as it continues to expand its presence in South America.
The terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but Busbud co-founder and CEO LP Maurice told BetaKit that this was the company’s largest M&A transaction to date “by a significant margin,” and was completed with a mix of cash and equity.
Busbud says Brazil is the third-largest bus market in the world, with bus travel making up 59 percent of leisure and tourism travel in the country.
Buson’s shareholders, which include Brazilian venture capital firm and its Series A investor, Kaszek, and Buson’s CEO and co-founder, Thiago Carvalho, will now become shareholders in Busbud.
Following this transaction and Busbud’s acquisition of Chilean intercity bus marketplace Recorrido in November 2022, Busbud says it now has over 600 partnerships with bus operators in Latin America, “thousands” globally, as well as approximately 225 employees worldwide.
Buson, founded in 2013 as Guiche Virtual, offers an online marketplace for travellers to book intercity buses throughout Brazil. It also offers business solutions for bus operators such as e-commerce and inventory management software. Buson and all of its employees will continue to operate in Brazil under the same brand, with Carvalho leading Busbud’s Brazilian operations, and will add Busbud’s global inventory to its platform.
“We are happy to join a global team to access deeper resources and support our continued expansion,” Carvalho said in a statement.
Busbud’s goal is to share its resources and expertise in product, marketing, sales, and international expansion with Buson, Maurice told BetaKit, adding that Busbud will leverage the Buson team’s knowledge of Brazilian travellers to grow in the market.
Busbud was founded in 2011 by Maurice, CTO Michael Gradek and CPO Frédéric Thouin. Much like Buson, Busbud allows users to search, compare, and book intercity bus tickets on over three million bus routes worldwide from more than 4,000 bus companies in 16,000 cities across over 80 countries, in 17 languages.
Busbud raised a $9-million Series A round led by Omers Ventures and Revolution Ventures in 2014. Busbud looked to expand its footprint following a $14-million Series B round in 2018 led by iNovia Capital with participation from former Expedia CEO Erik Blachford.
The COVID-19 pandemic led Busbud to lay off one-third of its staff and revise its approach, moving beyond just bus booking and into other types of ground transportation like train, ridesharing, and shuttle trips. That move came with a $15-million Series C round led by the Canadian Business Growth Fund and Investissement Québec, which the startup had been planning to raise before the pandemic hit its business.
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Since expanding its focus, Busbud has been growing, at least in part, through acquisitions. It acquired Recorrido in November 2022, alongside a $14 million equity funding round, to support its Latin American expansion plans. Busbud says that Recorrido’s net revenue grew over 100 percent and nearly doubled its team from 40 to 75 team members in the 12 months following the acquisition. Toronto-based Betterez, a reservation and ticketing management platform, also joined Busbud’s portfolio in late 2022.
According to Busbud, Brazil is the third-largest bus market in the world, with bus travel making up 59 percent of leisure and tourism travel in the country. Maurice told BetaKit that Latin America has always been a part of Busbud’s story, and he hopes to keep growth and positive momentum going with Buson in Brazil.
“We share the same ambition to revolutionize ground travel through innovation and we have well-aligned product suites that aid the digital transformation of ground travel across the Americas and globally,” Maurice said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to craft transportation experiences that meet the needs of the modern traveller, as well as our trusted operator partners.”
Feature image courtesy Busbud.