Swiggy partners with Bounce for taxi-bike pilot project: Report

Bengaluru-based food delivery service platform Swiggy has tied up with scooter-sharing platform Bounce for a bike-taxi pilot project in Indore and Ahmedabad, The Economic Times reported.

As part of the pilot project, Swiggy’s delivery executives will pick up and drop users of the Bounce app whenever food delivery orders are low, four persons aware of the development told the publication. The pilot was reportedly initiated two months ago.

Representatives from Swiggy and Bounce declined to comment on the development when they were reached to seek more information in this regard.

The joint pilot project may lead to Swiggy making a financial investment in Bounce, said a person familiar with the development.

Swiggy, operated by Bundl Technologies, is mulling foray into the bike-taxi space with Bengaluru and Gurugram being considered as options to start operations.

Persons in the know said that Indore and Ahmedabad were chosen for the pilot due to their compact market sizes and lenient transport regulations. Some states across the country have outlawed bike-taxis.

Earlier this month, the Madras High Court banned Roppen Transportation Services from operating its bike taxi services in Rapido in Tamil Nadu.

The Bengaluru-based bike renting platform Bounce recently announced that it completed five million rides on its platform, clocking 60,000 rides per day in Bengaluru.

TechCircle recently reported that Bounce, owned and operated by WickedRide Adventure Services, is close to raising $200 million (around Rs. 1,415 crore at the current exchange rate) from Accel Partners, B Capital and Chiratae Ventures, among others.

In March, Bounce received $1 million (Rs. 6.9 crore at then-exchange rates) from chipmaker Qualcomm.

The dockless bike platform also received debt funding to the tune of $3 million (around Rs. 21 crore at then-exchange rates) from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal. The funds were to be leveraged for the platform’s vehicle-financing needs.