There is more money pouring in India’s scooter rental space. Just days after electric-only scooter rental startup Yulu closed an $8M round, its gasoline and electric rival Bounce has reportedly closed a massive $150 Million. The round, reported by Techcrunch citing sources, has been led by existing investors Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital and Accel Partners India.
While specifics on the round are yet to surface, the same sources mentioned the valuation to have exceeded well beyond $500Mn. Unlike Yulu though, Bounce provides both gasoline and electric scooters on rent. The startup currently operates over 17,000 electric and gasoline scooters in 36 Indian cities.
Similar to other two-wheeler rental startups, Bounce too has an app which allows customers to book scooters from designated parking spots across its operational cities. The rides are pretty cheap. They cost Rs 1 (0.1 cents) per km and Rs 1.5 per hour. The company operates with a patented keyless entry tech, thus allowing users to operate scooters with just an OTP.
The upstart claims over 2 million users till date and is witnessing rapid growth. A Business Standard report back in July mentioned about Bounce becoming the fastest scooter sharing startup globally. The startup had then claimed to have clocked a staggering 60,000 rides per day in Bengaluru, making it the fastest-growing bike-sharing start-up in the world. Within 10 months of launching dockless scooters in Bengaluru, the firm has completed over five million rides, covering 30 million km.
The company however, has its fair share of competitors. While Yulu is an up and coming venture, a more comparable competitor would be Vogo. Vogo is heavily backed by Ola and reports have surfaced that the startup might be on the heels of closing a $40 million round. Apart from these, there is always competition from Ola and Uber (and other bike taxi startups like Rapido), which offer taxi rides over two-wheeler.
Needless to say though, Bounce’s $150 million will dwarf all others in the space. Bounce had earlier raised $72 million from the same set for investors, valuing the company at close to $220 million.
