Exclusive: Sequoia exits car and bike pooling platform Quick Ride

Sequoia Capital India, the early backer of car and bike pooling platform Quick Ride, has exited from the Bengaluru-based company, according to two sources aware of the development.

To recall, Quick Ride had raised an undisclosed sum and Rs 25.2 crore from Sequoia in its Series A and Series B round respectively. Prosus (previously Naspers) and Venture Highway are the other two early investors in the company.

“Sequoia took an exit from Quick Ride somewhere late last year and took a significant hit on the invested amount. It has exited with 40-50% of what it had invested in the company across two rounds,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity.

It’s very rare when Sequoia or any other mainstream venture capital firms go for such exits. 

“It’s surprising that Sequoia has taken an exit from a company with a 50% haircut.  All ride-sharing businesses, including Quick Ride, were severely affected due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown and its aftermath. This could be the major reason for exiting from Quick Ride,” said the second source who also wished not to be named.

Sequoia Capital has declined to offer any comment for the story while Quick Ride is yet to respond. 

Launched in 2015, Quick Ride helps commuters in finding options for car and bike pooling in real-time. Users can share their empty car or bike seat with colleagues or other professionals based on a match with rides on the same route. 

Since April last year, the company has lost sizeable scale because a major chunk of corporates and startups switched to work from home policy. Employees of major IT firms such as Cisco, IBM, Philips, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, Capgemini, Mphasis and Tech Mahindra were its regular clients. 

As of December 2019, Quick Ride had crossed 3 million registered users and it facilitated 27 million carpools shared in that year. According to sources, it has hardly gained 30-40% of its pre-Covid peak volume.

Quick Ride operates across cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram. According to the company, it charges a nominal 10% of the fare towards the cost of technology, services, infrastructure and support.