Bengaluru based Scooter Sharing platform Metro Bikes, renamed now ‘Bounce’, has raised $12.2 million series A funding led by Sequoia India and Accel Partners.
Raghunandan G, Founder of TaxiForSure, and other angel investors have also participated in this round.
The funding will use to scale up its network of 2,000 scooters in Bengaluru to 30,000 in the next 10 months; make the delivery model robust through technology innovations, double its headcount and develop a pan India presence across major cities by 2020, a top executive told BusinessLine.
Earlier, the bike sharing company raises $700,000 in March 2015 from Captain Prashant Priya, a serial entrepreneur and $1.5 million in October 2017 from LG Chandrasekar, co-founder, Sutures India.
Bounce also operates a network of 500 scooters in Hyderabad.
“Anil G, Varun Agni and I founded Wicked Ride in 2014 as a luxury motorcycle rental company with Harley-Davidsons, Royal Enfields and Ducatis . In 2016, we transitioned to providing commuting solutions which we branded as Metro Bikes and recently rebranded to Bounce, as it is a popular term used by millennials when they talk about moving from one place to another” said Vivekananda HR, CEO, Bounce.
Bounce offers commuters first and last mile connectivity to metro stations. The service costs ₹6.50 per km in Bengaluru. Users can pick up the scooter from anywhere, ride to their destination and drop it off at any location.
“There is tremendous potential for innovation in the shared mobility segment given the major gap in last mile connectivity in intra-city travel. We are looking at a market opportunity of $4.5 billion and are delighted that we can bring these innovations and solutions to people on a larger scale.”