Vogo Automotive, a startup that offers docked scooters on rent has announced that it has raised fresh funds from its existing investors in addition to welcoming a new investor LGT Lightstone Aspada. LGT Lightstone has led this Series C fund raising at Vogo while existing investors like Matrix Partners India, Kalaari Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners have also participated. The amount raised has not been specified by the company.
Vogo boasts of a 2.5 million user base across many cities in India with the company having its headquarters in Bengaluru. The company’s model is to have its scooters available at specific locations. Customers who have already downloaded the Vogo app and have registered their profile can reach the spot, use the app to open the vehicles and be on their way. When their work is done, they go to the docking station closest to where they finish their activity and lock the vehicle and leave.
The docked way of managing the scooter rental works well for the company since it brings down the overall cost of running the operations, better management of vehicles and ensures the customers are assured of a reliable scooter when they drive out. The undocked system does not provide these benefits. Vogo wants to use the funds now raised to expand its operations and invest in improving the Internet of Things (IoT) technology it has adopted. Ride share major Ola is a strategic partner in this business.
The startup believes it has been able to bring about substantial savings in its operational costs thanks to the deployment of technology.
The promoters, Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mittal, are quite excited about the future prospects of their business while the investors, both the existing ones and the new investor, have expressed their confidence in the startup.
Matrix Partners India, the key investor in Vogo, has a string of popular startups it has been funding right from their early stages through their growth periods. Some of them include Quikr, Dailyhunt, Treebo, Practo, Razorpay and so on.