Mobility startups attract big bucks

BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Around half a dozen startups in the urban mobility space — like bike taxi player Rapido, car & bike pooling venture Quick Ride, and bike rental startup Bounce — are in advanced discussions to raise growth capital from such large investors as private equity firm WestBridge Capital, South African media giant Naspers, venture firm Sequoia Capital India and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital.

These companies aim to fill the void of broken public transport infrastructure by offering services like selfdrive cars or scooters, bike taxis, and carpool. Investors are betting on growth in these sectors due to falling car ownership among millennials, especially when the options are being made affordable by these startups.

Bengaluru-based biketaxi startup Rapido is likely to see WestBridge Capital put inasmuch as $30 million where venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners is also expected to add $10 million, said two sources briefed on the matter. Further, existing backers like Sequoia and Accel, along with other investors like B Capital are in talks to lead a $50-million fund-raise in dockless scooter rental startup Bounce to fight Ola-backed Vogo, which also plans to raise capital by the end of the year, said three people briefed on the development.


Another area seeing investor action is car & bike pooling, where Quick Ride is learned to have got around $15 million from Naspers. Ola is also reportedly in talks to pick up a stake in Pune-based carpooling startup sRide.

Founders of Bounce, Rapido, Quick Ride and Vogo declined to comment on their capital, and emails sent to WestBridge, Nexus and Sequoia did not elicit a response till the time of going to press. Naspers confirmed the investment but declined to comment further.

Currently, there are over 370 metro stations in the top 10 cities in India, from where connecting to endpoints like home or offices through cabs, buses or autos costs more at Rs 12-20 per km as compared to Rs 6.5 per km on bike-sharing platforms like Vogo and Bounce, according to data collated by venture firm Matrix Partners India.