Bengaluru-based smart dock-less mobility startup Bounce, has raised $72 million as a part of its series C round. B Capital Group, a global technology fund and Falcon Edge Capital, a New York based hedge fund led the investment.
This also saw participation from Accel Partners India, Accel Partners USA, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India and Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated. The funding will go towards the company’s plan to expand its presence nationally, especially in smart cities and will also be deployed towards strengthening the tech.
Founded in 2014 by Vivekananda H.R., Anil G and Varun Agni, Bounce aims to decongest the roads by encouraging commuters to choose public transport. With its patented keyless technology, Bounce users can pick up and drop the scooters, bicycles or electric scooters anywhere in the city at any time.
“We truly believe that mobility is a fundamental right and we aim to provide every commuter accessibility to green and affordable options. Shared personal mobility addresses a key consumer need and is fast emerging as an important mode of transportation. Bounce is actively working with the local and national government to provide innovative solutions for seamless first and last mile connectivity. This round of funding will help accelerate our expansion nationally across various cities. We appreciate the ongoing support of our investors who have continuously believed in the growth trajectory of Bounce. Also, our journey so far wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our loyal customer base," Vivekananda said.
The latest round takes the total capital raised by Bounce to over $92 million. Bounce also recently raised $8 million in a Series B funding round that was led by Chiratae Ventures, with participation from Accel Partners India, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. In August last year, Accel Partners India, Omidyar Network India and Sequoia Capital led $10.2 million in a Series A funding round. Prior to that Bounce raised a pre series A round of $2 million, funded by Captain Prashant Priya and LG Chandrasekar, co-founder Sutures India.
“Bounce has done a fantastic job in innovating a keyless scooter product offering that has been well received by the consumers. The healthy utilisation rates of scooters and high repeat behaviour from consumers prove that this model is well suited for mass market adoption as a intracity mobility solution and we are excited to see the company scale this in Bangalore and beyond. The innovations around the hardware aspect of the product, specifically the keyless mechanism of using a scooter coupled with other IOT modifications, provide strong defensibility to the company and we firmly believe Bounce will be the category winner in the long term,” Anand Daniel - Partner at Accel Partners said in a statement.
Bounce has deployed a fleet of over 5000 keyless scooters in Bengaluru. The company claims to have crossed the 2 million rides mark, putting them on par with global players like Bird and Mobike in terms of scale as well as mobility milestones. Bounce plans to introduce 50,000+ vehicles during the current year.