Bangalore-based startup Bounce has secured $105 million in a fresh round of funding. Bounce gives customers electric and petrol scooters on rent and allows them to leave the scooter at a predetermined docking station or store.
Commenting on the funding round, Bounce CEO and co-founder Vivekananda HR said,
It will also enable us to build a mobility platform that will help bringing in different forms of mobility solutions, that are hyper-suited to the needs of cities and towns we plan to expand into, over the next few months.
In a statement, Bounce said that the latest round of funding will be used to integrate electric vehicles further and improve profitability. It also said that it has built an in-house electric scooter with metal chassis, which can run safely for 200,000 kilometers. The scooter can indicate when its second seat is used which can help the company accurately bill customers for usage.
Bounce has changed its strategy in recent times and now partners with small retail stores spread across the cities in which it operates. It operates its vehicles from these stores in the beginning, but over time these stores deploy their own vehicles. They continue to use the Bounce platform. This strategy has helped Bounce expand to more cities while still cutting down on costs.
Bounce currently operates in 35 cities in which it offers over 20,000 scooters on rent. It records 1,20,000 rides per day.
The series D funding saw the participation of Accel Partners, B Capital Group, Chiratae Ventures, Falcon Edge, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Qualcomm Ventures, and Sequoia Capital India.
Partner at Accel Anand Daniel said that his firm was backing Bounce due to its pursuit of innovations in keyless mechanisms for scooter and integration of IoT in its systems.
