Mumbai: Two-wheeler rental startup Bounce is closing an $80 million funding round from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Chiratae Ventures as well as three new investors, three people aware of the matter said.
Two US-based hedge funds—Maverick Capital Ventures, the startup investment arm of Maverick Capital, and Falcon Edge Capital—along with B Capital Group, a venture fund started by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, are the new investors participating in the latest round, said the people cited above, on condition of anonymity.
“There was significant investor interest, with discussions driven by Sequoia. The firm clocks 20,000-30,000 rides a day and is growing fast," said one of the people cited above.
Nearly half the round size is being financed by Sequoia and Accel Growth, the US-based growth investments fund of Accel Partners, at a $200 million post-money valuation, said the person cited above.
Mint first reported on 13 March that B Capital is in talks to invest in the round, which started out at $50 million but ended up getting oversubscribed.
Two-wheeler startups have seen growing investor interest, particularly since cab-hailing unicorn Ola, India’s second most valuable startup, committed to invest $100 million in Vogo, another scooter-sharing startup, in December 2018.
Vogo, which counts Matrix Partners, Ola, Stellaris Venture Partners and Hero Group Chairman Pawan Munjal as its investors, provides scooter rentals starting at ₹3/km, and claims to have more than 100,000 riders and more than 10 million kilometres travelled.
Mint reported in November 2018 last year that at least half a dozen mobility startups, including Rapido, Ather Energy and Bounce were in advanced talks to raise large amounts of capital from investors. The latest funding boom in the technology-powered, ride-sharing space has been fuelled by the realization that a majority of Indians who use two-wheelers are largely turning to technology and using new-age smartphone apps to fulfil everyday transportation needs.
