Wickedride Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates dockless scooter-sharing platform Bounce, said on Monday it has raised another $3 million (Rs 20.8 crore) from venture debt firm InnoVen Capital.
This is Bengaluru-based Bounce’s second round of funding from InnoVen Capital, after the venture debt firm had provided the same amount in September last year.
Bounce said in a statement that the fresh funding will help expand its fleet and increase its density and penetration in Bengaluru.
Bounce, which was founded in 2014 by Vivekanand Hallekere along with Varun Agni and Anil G, currently has a fleet of 5,000 keyless bikes in Bengaluru. It currently does close to 24,000 rides a day and has in total done more than 1.9 million rides.
“InnoVen has been a strong believer of our business since the early days and has continued their support not only in form of capital but also relevant connections for business and fundraising," said Hallekere, co-founder and chief executive of Bounce.
The company initially offered motorbikes and scooters on rent primarily for urban commuters. It tweaked its business model to a dockless scooter-sharing service but has continued to run its rental business.
In December last year, TechCircle had reported that Bounce was in advanced talks to raise $50 million (Rs 348 crore) in a fresh funding round from new and existing investors.
Sequoia Capital, Accel and the family office of Sutures India chairman Chandrasekhar Gopalan are among Bounce’s existing backers.
In November 2018, Bounce secured funding from impact investment firm Omidyar Network, which came on board as a new investor.
A few months before that, it had raised $12.2 million (Rs 83.6 crore then) in a round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Accel and had rebranded itself from Metro Bikes to Bounce.
In February last year, the family investment office of Sutures India chairman Chandrasekhar Gopalan had invested $1.5 million (Rs 10 crore) in the venture.
Last year, Bounce acquired the India assets of Chinese bicycle-sharing unicorn Ofo, which wound up operations in India last July.
InnoVen Capital
The venture debt firm typically invests at the Series A level in early-stage startups, which it also mentors.
OYO Rooms, Swiggy, Byju’s, Nestaway, Pepperfry, Prizm Payments, Shaadi.com, Shopclues and Myntra are some of its well-known portfolio companies.
InnoVen Capital invested about Rs 600 crore across 36 companies last year, registering a 28% increase in the amount of funding.
