B Capital Invests In Bike Rental Startup Bounce At $450 Mn Valuation

Bengaluru-based dockless bike rental startup Bounce has raised $97 Mn (INR 692.39 Cr) in Series D funding round led by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s venture capital fund B Capital. With this funding, Bounce’s valuation has almost doubled to $450 Mn.

Besides B Capital, Omidyar Network, Vistra ITCL, SCI Investments and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round, along with existing investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners India and Chiratae Partners. The development was first reported by Bengaluru-based business intelligence company Paper.vc. With this funding, Bounce has raised $191 funding in total, across series.

In October 2019, two sources told Inc42 that Bounce was in discussion to raise $125 Mn from B Capital and Accel Partners. The sources had also noted that the funding can go up to $150 to $160 Mn, taking the Bounce’s valuation close to $600 Mn. Inc42’s source had also indicated the involvement of investment firm Goldman Sachs.

According to a Business Standard report, published in November 2019, Bounce will be using the fund to expand across 10 Indian cities. In addition, Bounce will also be looking for opportunities to collaborate with state and central government to provide innovative solutions for first and last-mile connectivity.

B Capital and Accel Partners have invested in Bounce’s Series C funding round. In Series C, Bounce raised $72 Mn from Falcon Edge Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India and Qualcomm Ventures.

In 2019, the company also raised $4.45 Mn from Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal’s BAC Acquisitions. The BAC Acquisitions funding came in two rounds, in March 2019 the Sachin Bansal led investment company invested $3 and $1.45 Mn in July.

Founded in 2014 by Vivekananda HR, Varun Agni and Anil G, Bounce is a bike rental service that provides premium motorcycles for rent under the brand name Wicked Rides and commuter bikes under the Bounce brand. The company was previously known as Metro Bikes.

India leads the world in the bike and scooter rental market in terms of fleet size. As per German EV manufacturer Unu, the fleet size of bike-rental apps in India is over 15K vehicles. The Indian fleet is bigger than the more developed economies of many other Western countries. Besides Bounce, Yulu, Vogo, Tazzo Bikes and ONN Bikes are some of the players in the bike-rental segment.