20 Disruptive Transportation Companies & Startups (2024)
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In a fast-paced world, swift, efficient, and safe mobility is no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity.
Because of that, the global transportation industry has experienced massive growth over the years.
For instance, the freight industry in the US alone is valued at $1.33 trillion in 2024.
On top of that, the global revenue of the public transportation industry is expected to hit $291.8 billion by 2028.
Those figures barely scratch the surface of this massive sector, where new players enter every year. We’ve rounded up 20 fast-growing transportation startups that are changing the game in 2024.
1. Zoomo
5-year search growth: 860%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Sydney, Australia
Funding: $105.6M (Series B)
What they do: Zoomo is an e-bike subscription service that provides a flexible and cost-effective solution for urban transportation. The platform offers a variety of e-bike models for rent on a weekly or monthly basis, with features like free maintenance and repairs, theft protection, and insurance included. Zoomo's user-friendly app and reliable delivery and pick-up services have made it a popular choice for individuals and businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their mobility in urban areas.
2. Flock Freight
5-year search growth: 4,300%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Solana Beach, CA
Funding: $399M (Series D)
What they do: Flock Freight is a freight-forwarding company that offers shared truckload shipping. Their services are designed to optimize routes, track shipments in real-time, and reduce the carbon footprint of their customers. Flock Freight claims that their technology reduces carbon emissions by 40% and that they've eliminated over 33 million pounds of carbon emissions so far.
3. Zypp
5-year search growth: 6,600%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Gurgaon, India
Funding: $70.6M (Series B)
What they do: Zypp is a last-mile delivery platform that provides on-demand logistics solutions for businesses in India. The platform offers a variety of services, including delivery of food, groceries, medicines, and other goods, as well as bike taxi and corporate shuttle services. Zypp's user-friendly app and reliable delivery network have made it a popular choice for businesses looking to improve their logistics and reach more customers in urban areas.
4. BusUp
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2016
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Funding: $15.5M (Series A)
What they do: BusUp is a transportation technology company that provides a platform for bus sharing services. Their solution is aimed at corporate clients, allowing them to optimize their employee transportation by offering flexible, shared bus routes that can be customized to fit their needs. With features such as real-time tracking, automatic route optimization, and a user-friendly mobile app, BusUp is helping companies improve their transportation efficiency while reducing their carbon footprint.
5. Einride
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Funding: $652.3M (Debt Financing)
What they do: Einride is an electric automotive company that caters to logistics companies. They help shippers source battery-driven trucks for their shipments and specialize in providing self-driving, autonomous vehicles called “pods.” It’s estimated that Einride earns $25M in revenue on an annual basis.
6. Fetii
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2019
Location: Austin, Texas
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Fetii is a group transportation and ride-sharing service that offers on-demand group rides through a mobile app. This startup operates similarly to Uber and Lyft but instead provides ride-share options for large groups in 15-passenger vans and shuttle buses. Right now, Fetii is operating in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa, Austin, College Station, and Lubbock.
7. Obi
5-year search growth: 195%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: New York, New York
Funding: Undisclosed (Seed)
What they do: Obi compares available rideshare, taxi, and black car prices in one place. The app automatically tracks and displays real-time prices, ride types, and wait times from major companies like Uber, Lyft, and Bolt. According to the company's website, the app has more than 500,000 users.
8. FlavorCloud
5-year search growth: 22%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Seattle, WA
Funding: $10.1M (Series A)
What they do: FlavorCloud offers international shipments for eCommerce companies. Specifically, they offer cost calculation, tracking for shippers, and a cross-border logistics network. The startup says that they currently have 300+ carriers in their network.
9. Bolt
5-year search growth: 121%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2013
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Funding: $2.3B (Debt Financing)
What they do: Bolt is Europe's first mobility super app. The company offers ride-hailing, car-sharing, scooter and bike rental services, and food delivery. Similar to Uber and Lyft, the startup's primary ride-hailing service allows users to request rides from private drivers in 45+ countries and 500+ cities worldwide. Currently, the app has more than 150 million customers and over 3 million driver partners.
10. FlixTrain
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Munich, Germany
Funding: $1.2B (Series G)
What they do: FlixTrain is a subsidiary of Flix SE, a mobility company that also owns and operates FlixBus and FlixCar. The German startup offers long-distance passenger rail services on several intercity routes within Germany, complementing the FlixBus network. In April 2024, the company announced its plan to increase running services by 40% by the summer.
11. FreightWaves
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Funding: $92.4M (Private Equity)
What they do: FreightWaves is a platform where you can get news and real-time analytics on freight, transportation, and logistics. They mainly offer a SaaS solution called “SONAR,” designed to monitor, analyze, and provide forecasts on the freight market. More than 500 global enterprises currently use their platform.
12. CarEdge
5-year search growth: 7,100%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: Kensington, Maryland
Funding: $1.8M (Seed)
What they do: CarEdge is an online marketplace for buying and selling new or used cars. Customers can also use It to insure, finance, or protect their vehicles with new warranties. This startup offers premium CarEdge Data for buying and selling vehicles for $9.99/month.
13. Lendbuzz
5-year search growth: 844%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Funding: $1.1B (Venture)
What they do: Lendbuzz is an AI-powered auto finance platform that processes auto loans faster. This startup has become so popular because the platform gives international students, expatriates, and others without a social security number access to auto loans. Lendbuzz raised $345 million ($300 million in credit) at a $1.1 billion valuation in October 2023.
14. FREENOW
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2009
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Funding: $131.2M (Series Unknown)
What they do: FREENOW is a Europe-based mobility super app that allows users to book taxis, private vehicles, e-scooters, e-bikes, and e-mopeds. The company reported that it currently supports more than 48 million users, including over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Today, the app is available in 10 countries and 150 cities across Europe.
15. Voi Technology
5-year search growth: -31%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Funding: $540.6M (Series Unknown)
What they do: A micro-mobility and greentech company, Voi Technology offers electric scooters across Europe. Commuters can use their mobile app to locate nearby scooters and ride them to get around town. Today, Voi has more than 7 million riders and has supported 180+ million rides. Additionally, Voi recently declared that it plans to be climate-positive by 2030.
16. Virtuo
5-year search growth: -16%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $116.3M (Debt Financing)
What they do: Virtuo is a car rental company that offers conventional and electric vehicles to both businesses and individuals. The entire process is carried out online through their mobile app. More than 3,000 companies currently use Virtuo’s business solutions. The app has grown significantly and has more than 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
17. Rapido
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Bangalore, India
Funding: $310.4M (Series D)
What they do: Rapido is an Indian ride-hailing platform that provides a variety of transportation services, including bike taxis and auto-rickshaws. The platform offers a user-friendly app for booking rides and provides competitive pricing, as well as features for tracking rides, sharing trip details, and rating drivers. Rapido has become a popular choice for commuters in urban areas and has expanded to over 100 cities in India.
18. GoKid
5-year search growth: 147%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $2.4M (Grant)
What they do: GoKid is a carpool app that allows parents to connect with other parents in their school community to coordinate rides. With the mobile app, parents can create carpool groups, manage schedules, and share driving responsibilities with one another.
Other key app features include real-time GPS tracking, secure messaging, route optimization, and easy schedule management. The company has helped schedule more than 1 million carpool rides.
19. inDrive
5-year search growth: 2,400%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2012
Location: Mountain View, California
Funding: $537M (Debt Financing)
What they do: inDrive is a ride-sharing app that allows users to set their own price for a ride request. After passengers set their fare, drivers can choose to accept the ride or negotiate the price before pickup. In 2023, inDrive was the second most downloaded ride-hailing app in the world at 66.6 million downloads. Today, the app is available in over 600 cities across 48 countries.
20. Unu
5-year search growth: 35%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2013
Location: Berlin, Germany
Funding: $43.3M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Unu is a manufacturer of an electric scooter called “unu.” Their scooter is battery-powered, can run for up to 100 kilometers (a little over 62 miles) per charge, and connects with a mobile app. In 2017, the company founders made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe: Industry list.
conclusion
That wraps up our list of skyrocketing transportation startups worth following in 2024.
From transportation companies focused on transforming urban mobility to tech companies offering freight forwarding solutions to enterprises, it’s safe to say that the transportation sector is quite vast and diverse.
With new technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence penetrating this industry, the future of transportation looks exciting.
