Scooter rental startup Vogo bags $7 Mn from Ola and Pawan Munjal

Scooter sharing startup Vogo has raised around $6-7 million in its Series A round led by Ola’s parent ANI Technologies and Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal.

The funding round in the Bengaluru-based startup also witnessed the participation of existing investors Matrix Partners India, Stellaris Venture and some angel investors.

The Series A round for Vogo comes after a year. In September 2017, the dockless scooter sharing startup received seed fund from family members of the Murugappa, A V Thomas, and Thiagaraja Groups.

Vogo claims to have completed 1 lakh rides and gathered more than 28,000 users who commuted a distance of six million km using its mobile app.

With the fresh funding, Vogo plans to add more than 1,000 pickup points in Bengaluru and Hyderabad to increase its mobility and attract more users on its scooter rental platform.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal, Vogo offers scooters on rent for short one-way trips at various locations in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Vogo users (via mobile app) can access scooters from designated pick up and drop points across Bengaluru, Hyderabad (some parts of Manipal, and Mysore) and drop the scooter at any other point in the city.

In two-wheeler rental/sharing space, Wheelstreet, ONN Bikes, and Metro Bikes are some notable startups who have been able to attract risk capital from individual and institutional investors.

Last week, Metro Bikes raised $12.2 million Series A round from Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners.

Of late, both Ola and Here MotoCorp have been investing in cost-effective and eco-friendly ride service in the country. While Ola acquired end-to-end public transport-focused app Ridlr in an all-stock deal in April, Hero MotoCorp had invested in electric two-wheeler startup Ather Energy.

Besides, Ola also offers on-demand two-wheeler booking service Ola Bikes and Ola Pedal to fight traffic woes in metros.

The development was reported by Mint.