When a daily inconvenience turns into an idea
The chaos of Dhaka does not slow down for any of us, with shoves and pushes often plunging on the women of this city. In the metropolis of twenty million dwellers, female commuters are left to navigate through a public transport system which was never designed with their accessibility in mind. Buses are always overcrowded and harassment as if it is just routine and the alternatives also always offer little to no sense of protection with ride-sharing apps almost always feeling as if it’s financially out of reach. For years, this was never treated as a problem but as if it was an invisible sense of tax on the women who chose to participate and pursue a life outside of what had been the society’s shackle of boundaries. Team Shuttle came along to challenge just that.
Founded in 2018 by Jawwad Jahangir, Reyasat Chowdhury and Shah Sufian – the startup entered the market with a rather price target and a deliberate intervention – a woman only app-based carpooling service which offered not just the means of transportation but the sense of protection, comfort and accessibility in terms of financial reasoning. Shuttle’s presence and their concept served as a subtle message in the market – “convenience is not luxury, comfort is necessary.”
And the women? They responded instantly, with over 30,000 registrations on the platform the services have now crossed over a million in terms of total trips availed. From students to the corporate, Shuttle answered a question many weren’t asking, how technology can bring convenience and the necessity of safety and convenience without having to pay sky-rocketed prices.
What makes Shuttle a market mover is that it never treated the necessities as a premium service to be offered and the idea to design a women-first product also helped normalise the concept of infrastructure being established while keeping the convenience of women in perspective.
Since its launch in 2018, Shuttle has now broadened its services to unisex carpooling services and corporate/B2B services, having partnerships with multiple organisations. Shuttles unique position in the market helped garner them investors from South Asia Tech and Accelerating Asia while also securing local funds. Founders are currently recognised on the Forbes’s 30 under 30 Asia list and the company itself is now eyeing opportunities to go global while addressing to further expand into the local market of Bangladesh which is estimated to be of $13.5 Billion.
The effect becomes clearer over time. When financing, inputs, and market access are aligned, outcomes begin to stabilize. Farmers are not just producing more; they are operating with greater predictability. The process, which once relied heavily on external uncertainty, becomes more structured without losing its flexibility.
This is where the shift becomes meaningful.
iFarmer does not redefine farming itself, but it reorganises the conditions around it. What was once fragmented, loans from one source, inputs from another, sales through intermediaries begins to function as a connected system. In 2026, iFarmer further strengthened this model by securing USD 1.5 million in its latest fund from Switzerland-based Symbiotics to reinforce the agricultural value chain.
And in that shift, the value is not just efficiency. It is coherence.