[Funding alert] Bike rental startup VOGO closes Series C round at $25M

Bengaluru-based scooter sharing startup Vogo Automotive has closed its Series C funding round at $25 million, led by Lightstone Aspada and Matrix Partners India, according to two internal sources aware of the matter.

Out of the total funding, $4 million was raised in November 2019 from Stellaris Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital, amongst others. It received the remaining $21 million this month. 

Both Vogo and Matrix Partners India didn’t respond to YourStory's queries around the fundraise at the time of publishing this article. 

Founded in 2016 by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mitta, VOGO had previously raised Series A and B rounds from ride-hailing major Ola, as well as venture capital firms Kalaari Capital, Matrix Partners, and Stellaris Venture Partners.

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In June 2019, the startup also secured an undisclosed amount from former Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, serial entrepreneurs K Ganesh and Srini Anumolu, and Manish Vij (Founder of SVG Media).

VOGO users can access scooters from designated pick-up-and-drop points, and drop the scooter at any other point in the city. The startup said that it has leveraged its in-house hardware that is attached to the scooter, allowing customers to access the key without any human interaction and be on their way. 

At present, it is operational in five cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, and claims to have served over five million rides on its platform. Users are charged Rs 5 per km for up to 12 hours.   

In June 2019, venture debt fund Alteria Capital invested $3.6 million in the company. It had earlier participated in VOGO’s Series A investment round. 

VOGO competes with the likes of Bounce, ONN Bikes, and Rapido Bike Taxi. Last week, Bounce confirmed that it has raised $105 million Series D funding led by Accel Partners and Facebook Co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group, at a valuation of $520 million.

(With inputs from Sindhu Kashyaap)

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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