Scooter sharing startup Bounce's valuation crosses $220 mn with new funding

Raises $72 million in a series C financing round led by B Capital Group and Falcon Edge Capital; would use capital to expand its presence nationally and strengthen its technology.

Bounce, a bike and scooter sharing start-up, has raised $72 million in a series C financing round led by B Capital Group and Falcon Edge Capital. The Bengaluru-based firm said the investment took the valuation of the company to over $220 million. 

This year in January, its valuation was between $45 million and $50 million when it raised $8 million in a funding round led by Chiratae Ventures, according to the company.

This new funding round saw participation from Accel Partners India, Accel Partners USA, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India, and Qualcomm Ventures. 

The round also takes the total capital raised by Bounce to over $92 million. 

“This round of funding will help accelerate our expansion nationally across various cities,” said Vivekananda H R, chief executive and co-founder of Bounce. “Bounce is actively working with the local and national government to provide innovative solutions for seamless first and last mile connectivity.”

Founded in 2014 by Vivekananda H.R., Anil G and Varun Agni, Bounce has deployed a fleet of over 5000 keyless scooters in Bengaluru. The app allows the users to pick up a scooter and drop it at any legitimate parking spot. The firm said accessibility and affordability, has made it one of the ‘preferred’ modes of transport, both for first and last mile connectivity as well as regular commute. The company recently crossed the 2 million rides mark, putting them on par with global players like Bird and Mobike in terms of scale as well as mobility milestones. Bounce plans to introduce over 50,000 vehicles during the current year.

Start-ups addressing short-distance transport have taken the mobility space by storm in recent months, most notably with the rise of bike and scooter firms, according to research firm CB Insights. It said bikes and scooters, which allow people to easily move shorter distances, can help commuters access public transport hubs several miles away.

This month, Bounce’s rival Vogo raised Rs 25 crore as debt from Alteria Capital. Last year in December the firm formed a strategic partnership with Ola, where the ride-hailing giant will boost Vogo’s supply by investing in 1,00,000 scooters on the Vogo platform, worth $100 million. Its offerings will be available for Ola’s customer base of over 150 million, directly from the Ola app.

According to CB Insights, the main driver of the recent boom in funding has been the rise of the dockless system, which originated in China with traditional bikes back in 2016 but has since spread to the US for traditional bikes, e-bikes, and electric scooters. Dockless systems, which allow users to park their bike or scooter anywhere along the sidewalk rather than in a fixed docking station, are more convenient and less costly to scale given lower capital costs, as operators don’t have to build out fixed stations. A confluence of maturing technologies, including mobile payments, Internet of Things, and GPS technology helped make dockless systems possible.When combined into a mobile app, these technologies allow users to locate, access, and pay for vehicles without the need for fixed stations, according to CB Insights.