Mumbai-based bike rental startup ONN Bikes has raised Rs 4.5 crore Pre Series A round led by Z Nation Lab, JITO Angels and Venture Catalysts. Several VCats angels such as Jayesh Parekh (Sunidhi Securities), Pankaj Harlalka (Narnolia Capital), Gaurav Gandhi, Nikunj Pachisia, and Vijay Lakhani were also amongst those participating in the funding round.
The funds will be deployed towards building a stronger technology base, increase the fleet size, expand to more cities, and promote its franchisee model. The company rents bikes to Ola, Uber, and Swiggy in B2B space. It currently operates in five major states in the country, and has earlier raised two seed rounds from Z Nation Lab and Grace Capital Ventures.
Speaking on the investment, Namit Jain, Founder and CEO of ONN Bikes, said, “We are excited to have secured pre-Series A investment from Z Nation Lab, JITO Angels, and Venture Catalysts. Their vast expertise and combined networking capabilities will help us immensely in achieving our expansion goals by covering more cities and finding strong franchise partners.”
Launched in November last year ONN Bikes aims to redefine daily commute in India by way of rented two-wheelers, it has swiftly expanded its operations to cover major Indian cities through B2B bike leasing as well as short-term rentals.
Pushp Mitra Das, Lead investor with Z Nation Lab, added, “We led the follow-on investment round because we have faith in the strong foundation that the ONN Bikes team is creating. The consistent growth with negligible cash burn and strong B2B partnerships speaks highly of the team’s execution capabilities. We have full faith that ONN Bikes will be able to sustain the growth momentum and continue growing at an accelerated pace.”
Over the past one year, two-wheeler rental segment has been witnessing considerable interest from seed investors. In September this year, online scooter rental startup Vogo had secured an undisclosed amount in a seed round led by Ajit Thomas, Hari Thiagarajan; and Muthu Murugappa. Prior to Vogo, Bengaluru-based motorbike rental marketplace, Wheelstreet had raised $120,000 from US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator.
ONN Bikes: Website
