Bike rental space has been a key area of investment for top tier VC firms and large scale mobility majors. While Stellaris Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Ola had backed Vogo, Chiratae Ventures, Accel India, Sequoia India, and Omidyar Network placed a bet on Bounce.
Doubling down their investment in Bounce, Chiratae Ventures, Accel India, Sequoia India and Omidyar Network and several others are pouring over $72 million worth Series C round in Bounce.
While Accel is leading the round with about $19.5 million, Sequoia is putting $16.2 million. Falcon Edge will invest about $9.8 million and Omidyar will be infusing $3.2 million.
Chiratae and IDG collectively will contribute $7.6 million. B Capital is contributing $9.5 million in the series C round. Bounce will be issuing Series C CCPS shares worth Rs 5127.99 each.
According to Entrackr’s estimate based on RoC data, the Bengaluru-based firm is issuing 25,44,104 shares. This essentially outlines that Bounce will be valued about $186 million in this round. Qualcomm APAC, Redwood Trust, MPOF Mauritius, and MAF Mauritius are also participating in the fresh financing round.
Positioned as premium motorcycle rental platform Bounce’s parent Wicked Ride went through rebranding and pivots. During 2016-17, it launched the two-wheeler scooter rental app Metro Bikes. Last year, it rebranded Metro Bike as Bounce.
At present, it claims to clock 20,000-30,000 rides a day.
Bounce was founded as Wicked Rides in 2014 by Vivekananda H.R, Varun Agni, and Anil G. While they offered premium motorcycle rentals under the Wicked Rides banner, they later added commute bikes under the Metro Bikes label, rebranded as Bounce in August 2018.
Bounce had raised about $20 million across Series A and B rounds. Last year, it raised little over $7 million in Series B round. Bounce also secured $3 million debt from Innoven while Sachin Bansal’s BACQ and Qualcomm were also in advanced stages to put debt capital.
Short term scooter and bike rental look like a viable option for last mile commute. This can be gauged from the interest of cab and bike-hailing major Ola and blue-chip venture capitalist. Besides Matrix and Stellaris, Kalaari had put in a little over $4 million while Hero Group promoter Pawan Munjal’s family trust invested around the same amount in Vogo.
