Exclusive: Vogo raises $35 Mn from Aspada and existing investors

Scooter-sharing startup Vogo has closed its Series C round. The Bengaluru-based firm has raised around $35 million in a round led by impact investment fund Lightstone Aspada along with participation from existing investors, according to two people familiar with the matter.

This comes after the firm was in talks with several investors including Goldman Sachs for many months but had not been able to close a deal, added the people cited above.

“After the multiple on and off talks, Vogo has finally closed its Series C round,” said the first person cited above, requesting anonymity.

Vogo declined to comment for this story. Lightstone Aspada did not respond to queries sent by Entrackr.

In November, Vogo had raised around $4 million from its existing investors Matrix Partners, Kalaari Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners as part of the Series C round.

Vogo, which is scooter-sharing platform allowing users to rent a two-wheeler from specific designated pick up points, directly competes with Accel Partners-backed Bounce, which essentially provides the same service except that the case of a Bounce vehicle, users can pick up and drop the bike anywhere in the city.  

Currently Vogo has deployed around 20,000 vehicles across Bengaluru, Mysore and Hyderabad with plans to add more this year. The firm had received a $100 million financing deal from Ola where the cab-hailing company will finance scooters for Vogo, which is also being implemented. Vogo also plans to foray into electric vehicles some time this year.

Vogo’s funding round also comes over a week after its competitor Bounce raised $105 million in a round led by Accel Partners and B Capital with participation from Chiratae Ventures, Falcon Edge, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Qualcomm Ventures and Sequoia Capital India.

Despite working in a similar space and starting out around the same time, Bounce has managed to garner a much larger and stronger cap table as compared to Vogo. However, it is also due to the $100 million debt deal by Ola which allows Vogo to not dilute its equity too much by onboarding too many investors.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mittal, Vogo also competes with the likes of Rapido which operates in the bike taxi space.

In June 2019, it received Rs 25 crore from venture debt firm Alteria Capital. 

A Mint report in November said that Vogo was in talks with Aspada and Mirae to raise money.