Wickedride Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates dockless scooter-sharing startup Bounce, has raised $6.5 million (approximately Rs 47.29 crore at current exchange rates) in funding from venture debt provider InnoVen Capital Pvt. Ltd.
The fresh funding comes just weeks after the Bengaluru-based startup raised $105 million (around Rs 748 crore) in its Series D round. That round was led by existing investors Accel and B Capital, the investment firm led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder at Bounce, said the fresh funds will be used for achieving profitability and customised mobility solutions depending on the consumer markets.
“Bounce holds massive potential in playing a crucial role in this growth story,” Ankit Agarwal, director at InnoVen Capital, said. InnoVen has been associated with Bounce since the early days and impressed by the phenomenal progress they have made in a relatively short period of time, he added.
The latest investment takes the total funding raised by Bounce from InnoVen to $12 million.
In April last year, Bounce raised $3 million (Rs 20.8 crore) from InnoVen. Prior to that, the company had raised the same amount from the Mumbai-based InnoVen in September 2018.
Bounce was founded in 2014 by Hallekere along with Varun Agni and Anil G. The Series D infusion in January this year came after it raised Rs 505 crore (around $72 million) in Series C funding in June 2019, with Accel and Sequoia leading the round. Chiratae, Falcon Edge, B Capital, Maverick and Omidyar also invested in that exercise.
Before that, Chiratae Ventures had led an $8 million Series B round along with participation from Accel, Omidyar Network, Sequoia Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. In August 2018, Accel, Omidyar, and Sequoia had invested $10.2 million in its Series A round. Bounce had raised $2 million in its pre-Series A funding round.
In November 2018, Bounce acquired the India assets of Chinese bicycle-sharing unicorn Ofo, which had wind up operations in India.
Other firms that operate in the mobility space include Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd, which last month raised $19 million (around Rs 136 crore) in Series C funding led by LGT Lightstone Aspada. Existing investors in the company such as Matrix Partners, Kalaari Capital, and Stellaris Venture Partners also participated.
In August last year, the Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd-operated Rapido raised Rs 391 crore (around $54.6 million) in its Series B funding round led by private equity firm WestBridge Capital. Others that participated included BAce Capital and Shunwei Capital.
InnoVen Capital
The venture debt firm typically invests at the Series A level in early-stage startups, which it also mentors. InnoVen says it offers several debt capital solutions to companies, including venture debt, acquisition finance, growth loans, and syndication.
OYO Rooms, Swiggy, Byju’s, Nestaway, Pepperfry, Prizm Payments, Shaadi.com, Shopclues, and Myntra are some of its well-known portfolio companies. The investment firm says it has so far conducted over 250 transactions with over 170 startups across various stages.
Last month, VCCircle reported that the venture debt provider has extended financing to a healthcare company that had last raised equity funding less than three years ago.
