Amidst $100 Mn commitment from Ola, Vogo raises $8.9 Mn led by Kalaari

Amidst $100 million commitment from cab-hailing giant Ola, scooter sharing platform Vogo has raised about $8.95 million in a fresh round led by Kalaari Capital.

According to the regulatory filing with MCA, Kalaari put in a little over $4 million, while existing investors Matrix Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Hero Group promoter Pawan Munjal’s family trust managed the rest fund.

The fresh round comes after five months as it raised $7 million Series A round from the aforementioned existing investors in August, last year. Industry experts project the post-money valuation of Vogo around $50 million.

This is a crucial funding round for Vogo as it is planning to expand its business and aims to foray into other cities.

A brainchild of Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal, Vogo provides scooters on rent for short one-way trips with over 200 pick up points across Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

It claims to have completed 100,000 rides and gathered more than 400,000 users who commuted a distance of 20 million km using its fleet.

With backing from the Bhavish Aggarwal-steered company, Vogo will leverage Ola's huge customer base that is planning to debut in the dockless scooter sharing model.

Founded in 2016, Vogo registered a 42 per cent decline in revenue to Rs 1.85 crore in FY18. The Bengaluru-based startup reported an increase in loss to Rs 3.27 crore from Rs 1.93 crore in the previous fiscal.

Apart from Vogo, Sequoia and Accel-backed Bounce, Wheelstreet, and ONN Bikes also operate in the full-stack bike on rent or sharing facility.