Two-wheeler rental startup Bounce raised $72 million in its series C funding round led by global technology fund B Capital Group and Falcon Edge Capital, a New York-based hedge fund. Accel Partners India, Accel Partners USA, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India and Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Inc, also participated in the round.
The company intends to use the money to expand its presence nationally, especially in smart cities, and to strengthen technology, it said on Monday.
Bounce was founded in 2014 by Vivekananda H.R., Varun Agni, and Anil G. as Wicked Ride. It offered premium motorcycle rentals under the Wicked Ride banner and later added commute bikes under the Metro Bikes label, rebranded as Bounce in August 2018. At present, Bounce has a fleet of more than 5,000 keyless scooters in Bengaluru.
The app allows the users to pick up a scooter and drop it at any legitimate parking spot. Bounce recently crossed the 2 million rides mark, putting it on par with global players like Bird and Mobike, the company said. Bounce plans to introduce more than 50,000 vehicles during the current year.
“We truly believe that mobility is a fundamental right and we aim to provide every commuter accessibility to green and affordable options. Shared personal mobility addresses a key consumer need and is fast emerging as an important mode of transportation. This round of funding will help accelerate our expansion nationally across various cities,” said Vivekananda, CEO and co-founder of Bounce.
With this round, Bounce has raised more than $92 million in funding. Prior to this, it had raised $8 million in the Series B round of funding led by Chiratae Ventures.
In August last year, Accel Partners India, Omidyar Network India, and Sequoia Capital led a $10.2 million Series A funding round. Bounce had also raised a pre-series A round of $2 million in funding from Captain Prashant Priya, a serial entrepreneur, and L.G. Chandrasekar, co-founder, Sutures India.
B Capital Group, the venture fund started by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, has invested in micro-mobility across the globe and believes Bounce can transform mobility for more than 200 million potential users in India.
“Bounce can help democratize access to last mile transportation with use of technology to deliver an efficient and economical solution. The company has built a transformative solution to address mobility challenges in India and other emerging markets,” said Kabir Narang, general partner and co-head of Asia at B Capital Group.
Source: Mint