Bike rental brand Royal Brothers, owned by Royalbison Autorentals India Pvt. Ltd, said it has raised $1 million (Rs 7 crore) in a pre-Series A round from angel investors.
The round saw participation from Pradeep Deviah, chairman and chief executive, PDA Trade Fairs, a division of Pradeep Deviah and Associates Pvt. Ltd; angel investor Amrith Prasad; and others. The round was a mix of primary and secondary share purchases, the firm said in a statement.
With the recent funding, the company plans to strengthen its inventory across all the cities where it has a presence, besides expanding business to other states. “Royal Brothers will also introduce riding gear rentals across the currently operational cities, and start long-term leasing. It also aims to introduce electric bikes as well,” the firm said in the statement.
Founded in 2015 by chief executive officer and director Abhishek Chandrasekhar, Royal Brothers received seed capital of Rs 1.8 crore in the same year. The company claims to be the first bike rental platform to be licensed to operate in Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The startup offers a range of two-wheelers -- from scooters to superbikes -- which can be rented in 17-plus cities across six states of India. It currently has nearly 1,700 two-wheelers.
The space the startup operates in has seen funding activity of late.
Ride-hailing unicorn Ola announced in December 2018 that it will invest $100 million (around Rs 720 crore then) in scooter-sharing firm Vogo in a move aimed at diversifying its offerings.
In August 2018, Bengaluru-based Wickedride Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs online motorbike and scooter rental firm Metro Bikes, raised $12.2 million (Rs 83.6 crore then) in a round led by Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners.
In September 2017, Bashar Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates online bike rental platform wheelstreet.in, received $120,000 (Rs 77 lakh then) in seed funding from Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Y Combinator.