[Funding alert] Bounce raises Series D round of $105M led by Accel and B Capital; now valued at $520M

Bengaluru-based last mile mobility startup Bounce has confirmed that it has raised $105 million Series D funding. The round was led by Accel Partners and Facebook Co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group. Existing investors Accel Partners India, Falcon Edge, Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Maverick Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round of funding.

Kabir Narang, General Partner and Co-Head of Asia at B Capital Group, will be joining the Bounce board. 

The new fund raises Bounce's valuation to $520 million, and takes the total capital raised to $194 million. The team will use the funding to focus on deeper Electric Vehicle (EV) integration and a platform play, and will push towards profitability.

ALSO READ

From Wicked Ride to Bounce: how this bike rental startup is on the road to changing the way urban India commutes

Vivekananda H.R, CEO and Co-founder of Bounce, said: "Our growth to 1,20,000 rides a day, in a little over a year and largely in one city, underlines that the future belongs to shared mobility. Shared mobility not only reduces the traffic but also frees up parking spaces, which in Indian cities is anywhere between 12-15 percent of the total usable real estate. However, the main vision of Bounce is to democratise mobility and thus make a significant socio-economic impact. This fresh funding will help us work towards this vision. It will also enable us to build a mobility platform that will help bringing in different forms of mobility solutions hyper-suited to the needs of cities and towns we plan to expand into, over the next few months.”

The startup currently operates its dockless scooters across Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It has a fleet of over 13,000 vehicles in Bengaluru and 2,000 in Hyderabad. Bounce's docked scooter rental service is available to commuters in 35 cities. The team claims to have clocked over 16 million rides till date.

Kabir Narang, General Partner and Co-Head of Asia at B Capital Group, said: “B Capital Group has been impressed by the execution capabilities of the Bounce team. Bounce achieved over 16 million rides in 2019 and has with a highly engaged community of riders. With its dockless fleet of scooters, Bounce is a short-distance mobility solution that is affordable and efficient. Over 40 percent of Bounce rides start or end at metro stations, which also complements the public transportation infrastructure and solves the last-mile connectivity. In addition, a Bounce bike takes over six bikes off the roads, helping reduce congestion and pollution from cities.”

The team adds that while Bounce finances all its bikes through debt, significant investment is needed to build the necessary EV tech and enable the EV ecosystem.

The company also aims for a platform play to make its offerings form-agnostic, thus being able to tailor its mobility solution to the city/town it forays into. The funds will also be deployed towards multi-city expansion, enhancing tech infrastructure, talent acquisition etc.

Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel, said:  “Bounce has been a pioneer in the shared mobility sector. The brand has identified one of the key gaps in the mobility sector and managed to provide a convenient and cost-efficient solution with tech capabilities. The innovations around the keyless mechanism of using a scooter, coupled with other IoT modifications, make Bounce very unique. We are excited to continue partnering with the Bounce team.”

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

ALSO READ

[The Turning Point]: From a Hayabusa to a metro scooter, the ‘Wicked Ride’ of Bounce