资金警报Bounce Tops Up $6.5 million Funding To Finance Its Multi-City ExpansionThis deal marks InnoVen Capital's third investment in the scooter sharing start-up within a period of 18 months, taking the total debt investment to $12 million

At a time when bike sharing operators are stepping up their efforts to gain market share, Bengaluru-based Bounce has raised $6.5 million funding from existing investor InnoVen Capital.

According to an official statement, the deal marks InnoVen Capital's third investment in the scooter sharing start-up within a period of 18 months, taking the total debt investment to $12 million.

"InnoVen has backed our vision from very early days and been an incredible partner to work with. As we expand to more cities and towns, we will transition to a diverse shared mobility platform to enable various mobility options as per specific needs of each customer. The fund raised will help in realizing these goals while we march towards profitability," said Vivekananda H.R., CEO and co-founder of Bounce.

Funds To Be Deployed For Deeper EV Integration

According to Bounce, the latest funding will be used to fuel its electric vehicle integration. The fund will also be used for geographical expansion across India and accelerate profitability.

In January, Bounceraised $97 million(INR 692.39 crore) in its Series D funding round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's venture capital fund B Capital at a valuation of $450 million. Other investors including Omidyar Network, Vistra ITCL, SCI Investments, Qualcomm Ventures and existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners India and Chiratae Partners had also participated in the round.

During the same time, reports said Bounce had plans to deploy the funding to expand its services across 10 more Indian cities. The start-up is also reportedly looking to join hands with state and central government for providing first and last-mile connectivity.

With this current round of funding, Bounce has raised a total capital of over $ 200 million since the day of its inception.

Bounce Is Aimed At Making Daily Commute Easier

Bounce (previously known as Metro Bikes) was founded in 2014 by Vivekananda HR, Varun Agni and Anil G. It provides bike rental service which offers cost-effective micro-mobility solution for first and last mile travels. Users can rent premium motorcycles under the brand name Wicked Rides and commuter bikes under the Bounce brand.

The start-up currently operates a low-cost, dockless scooter rental model in Bengaluru and Hyderabad with a fleet of over 23,000 vehicles (20,000 in Bangalore and 3,000 in Hyderabad).

Bounce claims to clock more than 130,000 (1,00,000+ in Bangalore, 30,000+ in Hyderabad) rides a day. The biggest impact of Bounce is in enabling usage of MRT; around 42 per cent of its rides either start or end at a metro station.

Bike-Rental Market in India

According to a recent study by Germany-based electric scooter manufacturer Unu, India's fleet size of bike-rental apps is over 15,000 vehicles which is higher than the US and other western countries. Globally, bike rental fleet more than doubled in size from 25,000 to 66,000 vehicles in 2019.

Apart from Bounce, the market is dominated by some other notable players such as Yulu, Vogo, Tazzo Bikes and ONN Bikes.