Exclusive: Scooter rental platform Bounce raises debt from Sachin Bansal

Bengaluru-based Bounce, which is a scooter and bicycle rental platform, has received debt worth $3 million (Rs 21 crore at current exchange rate) from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, a person in the know told TechCircle.

The sum will be used by Bounce, owned by WickedRide Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd, for its vehicle-financing needs, the person said, asking not to be named.

The investment came through BAC Acquisitions Pvt. Ltd, which the Flipkart co-founder set up in December 2018 with his IIT-Delhi batchmate and former investment banker Ankit Agarwal. Bansal had co-founded the firm six months after exiting homegrown e-commerce firm Flipkart in May 2018. In an emailed response, Bansal said that the investment was part of BAC's treasury operations, without elaborating further.

Bounce’s scooter fleet includes vehicles leased from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), towards which the investment is likely to go, said the person.

The investment by Bansal comes less than two months after the Flipkart co-founder ploughed Rs 650 crore ($92 million then) in ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which owns cab-hailing app Ola.

An e-mail query to Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder and chief executive of Bounce, did not get a response till the time of publishing this report.

The development comes even as Bounce’s parent is in advanced talks to raise funding from new and existing investors including Russian billionaire investor Yuri Milner and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s venture fund B Capital Group. 

A person close to the company told TechCircle that the fundraising talked about just above could end up getting oversubscribed, going up to $70-$80 million.

Parent firm WickedRide was started in 2014 by Hallekere, Varun Agni and Anil G. 

In November last year, with the acquisition of bicycle-sharing unicorn Ofo’s India assets, it now also offers bicycle-sharing services.

WickedRide also operates a premium motorbike rental platform.

This month, Bounce roped in former Groupon executive Bharath Devanathan as senior vice-president of growth and electric vehicles.