Bike sharing start-ups now help e-commerce firms to deliver essentials

While Yulu is fulfilling 1,000 orders in a day, Bounce has tied up with over 13 start-ups to help them deliver essentials

While bike- and scooter-sharing companies have had their operations grinding to a halt, due to the nationwide lockdown, a few of them are now helping e-commerce companies deliver essential items to customers, instead of staying idle during this period.

Electric bike sharing platform Yulu, for example, has begun delivery of essentials in Bengaluru and Mumbai, while it plans to launch this service soon in Pune, Delhi and Ahmedabad. The start-up has tied up with companies such as Bigbasket, Licious, Dunzo, and Medlife and is fulfilling around 1,000 orders every day.

“Due to the Covid-19 situation, there has been a huge surge in demand for home delivery of essential goods such as groceries and medicine, which the companies are unable to fulfill due to shortage of manpower and unavailability of vehicles. There were a lot of inquiries from these companies for Yulu to help them with both our e-vehicles and manpower to fulfil the increased demand,” said Amit Gupta, co-founder and CEO, Yulu.

Experts say it will be innovations like these in businesses which will help start-ups stay relevant in these testing times.

“In Yulu's case, their services were not operational for regular commuters during this ongoing lockdown. However, by its constant approach to innovation, Yulu has been able to keep the ‘lights on’ and also shoulder the responsibility to serve the communities during this time of crisis,” said Sanjay Nath, co-founder and managing partner, Blume Ventures, which has invested in the Bengaluru-based start-up.

Another bike rental start-up Bounce has tied up with around a dozen companies such as Ninjacart, Swiggy and BigBasket to provide their services for delivery of essential items.

“At times like these, when most of the ground workforce has returned home because of the Covid-19 situation, and the demand has surged 50 per cent for essential services start-ups, we have entered into arrangements with over 13 companies who are into delivery of essential items,” said a Bounce spokesperson.

According to this arrangement, apart from renting its bikes to the start-ups, Bounce is deploying its operational staff as delivery personnel to meet the rising demand of manpower. However, these personnel will be on the payrolls of these start-ups and the maintenance of the bikes will be the responsibility of Bounce.