[The F word] Metro Bikes raises $12.2M Series A funding, rebrands to Bounce

Metro Bikes, now Bounce, raises new funds in round led by Sequoia India and Accel Partners; will use fund raise to scale network and focus on a stronger delivery model. 

Bengaluru-based dockless sharing company Metro Bikes raised $12.2 million Series A funding led by Sequoia India and Accel Partners on Thursday. Raghunandan G, Founder of TaxiForSure, and a consortium of other investors also participated in this round.

Metro Bikes has also rebranded itself as Bounce. The fund raise will be used to scale Bounce’s network across Bengaluru and develop a pan-India presence by 2020. The team also aims to use the funding to invest in a stronger delivery model through innovations in technology. 

Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, and Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel, will join the board. Earlier Bounce investors include Captain Prashant Priya, a serial entrepreneur, and LG Chandrasekar, Co-founder, Sutures India.

Vivekananda HR, Co-founder, Bounce, said in a press statement that 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 with this investment, we can bring these innovations and solutions to people on a much larger scale. We’ve also gone beyond scooters, offering other forms of transport, including bicycles, electric pedelecs, and kick scooters across the city. And Bounce seemed like an appropriate name for our new avatar. A service available across vehicles, and all over the city,” he said.

Founded by Vivekananda, Varun Agni and Anil G, the startup offers dockless scooter sharing service, which allows users to pick up a scooter from anywhere, ride to their destination, and drop it off at any location.

Shailesh said,  “There has been a lot of attention on four-wheel shared mobility across the world. While it makes sense in other markets, a service like Bounce has immense potential in India, where limitations of space and cost have always made two-wheelers more popular. Bounce has the potential to be a category creator - being the first to offer an extremely cost-effective, personalised, motorised transport that fills a critical need gap in the Indian market.”

The average cost per kilometre is at Rs 6, and the team claims to have seen over 200,000 downloads on its Android and iOS platform. 

Road to success?

The bike-taxi segment is fast growing in India. There also is Rapido, which currently claims to have over 4,000 bikes in Bengaluru, and over 1,000 in Gurgaon.

A study by AlphaBeta Analytics suggests that globally Uber users save 38 percent time with uberMOTO and nine to 18 percent with uberX compared to modes of transportation available earlier.

Anand said: “Last-mile connectivity for public transportation remains unsolved across India, and we believe that there exists a large market opportunity. Bounce’s technology-enabled solution offers low-cost transportation that can help cover short distances in the fastest time possible. Bounce’s product offering is particularly interesting as it uniquely fits multiple investment themes that we are excited about: tech-enabled solutions for mass India and shared-economy solutions across various categories (like lodging, transportation, and furniture).”