Bounce raises $97 mn in Series D; eyes profit in FY23

Nearly seven months after investing in Wickedride Adventure Services, which owns online mobility startup Bounce, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has come back for more. The Bengaluru-based company has raised $97 million in Series D round led by Saverin’s venture capital fund B Capital. 

The round also saw first-time investors in Bounce -- Stellenbosch, South Africa-based seed stage investor Alpha Wave Ventures and Chiratae Ventures founder and MD Bruno E Raschle in his individual capacity. Existing investors such as venture capital firms Accel, Sequoia Capital India, Qualcomm Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, IDG Ventures and ON Mauritius also participated in the round.

Of the total funds raised, the company has received $35 million (Rs 250 crore) from B Capital, while the rest is infused by other investors, regulatory filings show.

In June 2019, the company raised $72 million in a growth round (Series C) led by B Capital and New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, along with existing investors. 

This is Wickedride Adventures’ largest funding round. With this, Bounce has raised around $190 million till date, as per data available with VCCEdge. The round values Wickedride Adventures at $450 million, higher by $250 million in the previous round, financial daily Mint reported, citing sources. 

Founded by Vivekanand Hellekere, Varun Agni and Arun G, Bounce offers motorbikes on rent to its users, mostly focusing on urban areas. Its offering includes brands such as Harley Davidson, Triumph, Royal Enfield, Kawasaki and Ducati. 

Bounce has also added dockless bike platform in addition to its existing rental solutions. In November 2018, it acquired bicycle rental startup Ofo to improve its offerings. 

Bounce’s chief competitor is Vogo, which was founded in 2016. In June 2019, it raised an undisclosed amount from Myntra executive Ananth Narayanan, along with other individual investors, after raising $3.6 million from venture debt firm Alteria Capital in the same month.

B Capital was founded in 2015 by Saverin along with Raj Ganguly. The latter has previously worked with Boston-headquartered investment firm Bain Capital, private equity firm Velos Partners and consulting firm McKinsey.

B Capital looks to invest in startups that are ready to scale on a global scale with a focus on sectors such as e-commerce, healthcare, financial services, travel and transport. Other than Bounce, B Capital’s portfolio companies include online payment platform mswipe, B2B e-commerce marketplace bizongo, logistics platform BlackBuck and software maker Icertis.

Bounce financials

While the online motorbike rental platform does not expect to become profitable before the financial year 2022-23, it expects to earn nearly Rs 80 crore in revenue in FY20, up five-fold from FY19. It expects losses to the tune of Rs 160 crore during the year. However, it expects a significant revenue jump to Rs 769 crore and Rs 2,261 crore in FY21 and FY22, respectively, according to a valuation report.

In FY19, Bounce widened losses by a factor of 10 to Rs 71 crore on account of an over eight-fold increase in its expenses to Rs 87 crore. Despite the massive losses and higher expenditure, the company’s topline grew over five times to Rs 16 crore. It claims to have a net worth of around Rs 53 crore.