Exclusive: VOGO kicks off Series C round, talks with Goldman Sachs fizzle out

The scooter rental space has seen a surge of investments this year with large companies, including TVS auto, Hero MotoCorp and Ola, investing heavily in startups catering to last-mile connectivity.

And in their quest for growing scale, dockless scooter rental startup VOGO has raised Rs 21.24 crore in an ongoing Series C round from its existing investors Matrix Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners.

According to Entrackr sources, the company would raise about $50-60 million from three fresh investors. Sources emphasised that a couple of them are from the US.

We couldn't ascertain the name of new investors who will lead the round.

According to RoC filings with MCA, the Ola backed company held its 50th board meeting on November 6 and approved allotment of 11,935 Series C CCPS to Matrix Partners as per the terms agreed in the Series C1 bridge agreement executed on 30 October 2019.

These shares were issued for Rs 8,898  per share resulting in the raising of Rs 10.62 crore in total from the US-based private equity investment firm.

Further, the company also issued 11,935 Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) having a face value of Rs 100 each to Stellaris Venture partners at a premium of Rs 8,798 each raising another Rs 10.62 crore, on par with its fellow investor. 

Earlier this year, VOGO had raised an equity round worth nearly Rs 38 crore from existing backers  Matrix, Kalaari, and Ola. Another Rs 25 crore was received in the form of Debt Financing from Venture Debt firm Alteria Capital in June.

It's worth noting that VOGO was reportedly in talks with Goldman Sachs for about $50 million round. However, according to the aforementioned sources, the talks fell through.

We have reached out to VOGO for comment and will update the post as and when it responds.

VOGO currently offers its rental scooters in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and benefits greatly from a 100,000-scooter deal with its backer Ola. For the unaware, VOGO doesn't own scooters; it rents most of its scooters from Ola against monthly payments.

The company's main competitor, Bounce, is also pumping capital in its operations and has raised multiple rounds from investors including Sachin Bansal’s BACQ, Chiratae Ventures and InnoVen Capital.