Scooter-sharing startup Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd said on Tuesday it has received funding from a bunch of prominent individuals, just a day after main rival Bounce announced raising a big Series C round.
The announcements are a clear indication of the intensifying two-way race between Vogo and Bounce to capture the top position in the growing scooter-sharing segment in India, one of the world’s biggest two-wheeler markets.
Vogo said in statement it has received an undisclosed amount from former Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, serial entrepreneurs K Ganesh and Srini Anumolu, and SVG Media founder Manish Vij.
“They are seasoned entrepreneurs with a strong track record of creating large, valuable companies. We look forward to leveraging their expertise in our journey to building Vogo into an independent, valuable transportation company,” said Anand Ayyadurai, CEO at Vogo.
This comes within a fortnight of venture debt firm Alteria Capital investing another Rs 25 crore ($3.6 million) in Vogo. Alteria Capital had first invested in the scooter rental platform in October last year.
Vogo was founded in 2016 by Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mittal. It is now operational across 500 locations in five cities in India. Customers have completed over 3 million trips using Vogo platform, it said.
The company had raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round in September 2017. In April last year, it raised $7 million in a funding round led by homegrown ride-hailing major Ola. Venture capital firms Stellaris Venture Partners and Matrix Partners had also participated in the funding round.
In December 2018, Ola said it would invest $100 million in the company. Vogo’s fleet of two-wheelers was to be available for Ola customers. Around this time, the company also raised around $9 million from Kalaari Capital, Matrix, Stellaris and Hero Group promoter Pawan Munjal’s family trust.
On Monday, Bounce—operated by Wickedride Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd—raised around Rs 505 crore ($72 million) in its Series C round of funding led by existing investors Accel and Sequoia. New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge, technology investor B Capital and a clutch of other investors also participated in this round.
VCCircle estimates show that Bengaluru-based Bounce raised the funds at a post-money valuation of $200 million.
Prior to this Series C round, Bounce had raised Rs 20.8 crore from venture debt firm InnoVen Capital in April. This was Bounce’s second round of funding from InnoVen. The company had also raised Rs 15 crore from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal through BAC Acquisitions Pvt. Ltd earlier this year, according to regulatory filings.
