Metro Bikes raised a Series A round of investment led by Sequoia India and Accel Partners amounting to $12.2 million. In addition, Raghunandan G, founder of TaxiForSure and a consortium of other investors have also participated in this round. The startup, offering dockless scooter sharing services, has also announced the change in its brand name to Bounce.
The Bangalore-based startup said that the funds raised will be used to further scale the Bounce network across Bangalore. In addition, they are planning to invest in developing a plan to take the brand pan-India – to all major cities across India in the next two years. Earlier investors of Bounce include Captain Prashant Priya, a serial entrepreneur and LG Chandrasekar, co-founder, Sutures India.
Founded by Vivekananda HR, Varun Agni and Anil G, Bounce allows for users to pick up the scooters from anywhere and drop it at any location upon reaching their destination. The aim is to make first and last mile connectivity affordable and convenient for Indian commuters.
Bounce’s co-founder, Vivekananda HR, believes there is “tremendous potential” in the shared mobility segment for intra-city travel and the market opportunity stands at $4.5 billion. He added, “Now, with the support of Sequoia India and Accel Partners, we can bring these innovations and solutions to people on a much larger scale.”
Speaking on the change in brand name, Vivekananda said, “We’ve 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.”
While the company claims to have already witnessed more than 200K downloads on its Android and iOS platforms, Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, says, “Bounce has the potential to be a category creator – being the first to offer an extremely cost-effective, personalized, motorized transport that fills a critical need gap in the Indian market – and Sequoia India is looking forward to being a part of this journey.”
Refering to the continued challenges in last-mile connectivity across India, Anand Daniel of Accel Partners agrees that there exists a “large market opportunity”. He adds, “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).”
As part of the settlement, Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors and Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel will join the board.
