Le Train, an open-access start-up hoping to run regional train services from a hub in western France, has raised a further €8m ($8.5m) towards its intended 2025 launch.
Four investment groups have joined two traditional banking financiers, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa et Crédit-Agricole Charente-Périgord, which led the Series A round of funding for Le Train in 2022.
Crédit-Agricole Charente-Périgord Expansion, a private arm of the bank Crédit-Agricole's regional investment constituent, has added to the capital investment its parent company has already given to the start-up.
AQUITI Gestion is another local lender focused on financing start-ups and SMEs.
NACO is a co-investment business run by the government of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region.
Tudigo X LE TRAIN was set up by Tudigo, a Bordeaux-based sustainable investment company, to manage and collate the funds of more than 800 individual investors in the new train company.
Le Train aims to provide high-speed rail services from the Nouvelle Acquitane region into the 'Grande Ouest' region, which encompasses Nantes (in the Pays de Loire) and Tours.
The company said it aims to buy ten train sets and offer 50 services per day to solve the issue of inter-regional train travel.
Currently, the 374km journey from Nantes to Bordeaux takes nearly five hours as travellers must go via Paris Montparnasse. Le Train hopes to cut this journey time in half, with a far more direct service (although it will likely involve a change at Tours).
