Bounce plans to raise $30 mn; PhonePe gets fresh funds

Scooter rental platform Bounce likely to get more funds from existing investors. Flipkart-owned PhonePe gets over $100 million. Swiggy is likely to open its first store in Bengaluru soon.

Bounce to raise $30 mn for its electric vehicles arm

Bengaluru-based Bounce, which runs a dockless scooter and bicycle rental platform, is planning to raise $30 million (Rs 206.21 crore at the current exchange rate) for its electric vehicle subsidiary Zuink Smart Mobility Solutions, The Economic Times reported.

The funding will be led by existing investors including Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and Chiratae Ventures.

Bounce plans to build a distributed infrastructure for electric vehicles using kirana stores and deploy battery swapping stations across cities.

Vivekananda Halekere, chief executive officer and co-founder of Bounce, told ET that electric vehicle battery swapping can be a standalone business.

PhonePe raises Rs 698 cr from parent

Flipkart-owned payments platform PhonePe has raised Rs 698 crore (about $101 million) from its parent entity, The Economic Times reported.
PhonePe raised the funds from Singapore-based PhonePe, which was previously known as Flipkart Payments.

The funding is a part of the $500 million capital commitment made by the retail giant Flipkart in 2017 for its payment business.

The recently-raised funds have come on the top of  $107.7 million (Rs 743.50 cr then) it raised in March.

PhonePe has clocked around 230 million UPI transactions on its platform. The company has also been investing heavily in building its offline merchant base, having acquired close to 55 lakh merchants for QR code-based payments across the country, the report added.

Steadview in talks to join BharatPe's $75 mn round

Hong Kong-based private equity firm Steadview Capital is in talks to join as a new investor in the ongoing $75 million (Rs 515 crore at the current exchange rate) funding round in BharatPe, a QR-code based payment platform, The Economic Times reported.

The funding round will be led by US-based investor Ribbit Capital. Other investors likely to participate include Sequoia Capital India, Insight Partners, and Beenext.

In April, Bharape had raised $15.5 million (around Rs 107 crore then) in a Series A round of funding.

Steadview's interest in BharatPe comes at a time when merchant-focused fintech companies like Open and Razorpay have raised new capital from investors such as Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital.

Last week, BharatPe had appointed former PayU’s managing director Jitendra Gupta as a board member.
 
BigBasket closes on-demand service in Mumbai, NCR

Online food and grocery delivery platform BigBasket has closed its on-demand service in Mumbai, NCR and other cities, according to a report by Entrackr.

The company has pulled down its on-demand feature in other cities too including Pune, Lucknow and Patna.

It’s primary competitor Grofers had earlier shut its on-demand services while a slew of other firms including PepperTap and Localbanya were forced to wind up operations.

The cost per delivery for on-demand purchases is relatively high when compared to slot-based delivery, Entrackr reported.

Swiggy Stores likely in Bengaluru soon

Bengaluru-based online food order and delivery platform Swiggy is launching its first Swiggy Stores in the city early next month, according to a report by Entrackr.

The company has been testing its two major products – Swiggy Stores and Swiggy Daily - in the city, the report said.

After experiencing decent traction for Swiggy Stores in Gurugram, the company is all set to launch operations in Bengaluru, it added.

Swiggy Stores is expected to go live in Hyderabad by September.