Bounce Infinity, an electric scooter and swappable-battery company, has raised $20 million (Rs 163 crore) from its existing investors, including Sequoia, according to three people directly involved in the matter.
This deal is expected to provide a critical cash runway for the startup while it continues talks for a potentially larger round with external investors or even a strategic sale, they said.
Vivekananda Hallekere, the company’s co founder and CEO, confirmed the fundraising stated that the Bengaluru-based company had already closed the first tranche of this round, but denied that it was considering an outright sale. He also confirmed the participation of Sequoia, one of the company’s largest backers, in the latest round, ET reports.
“We are not in talks with anyone to sell the company,” Hallekere said, declining to specify how much was secured in the first tranche of the ongoing round or at what valuation.
According to a source close to the company, the company intends to launch three vehicles this year. According to this person, the company is also looking to expand in the export market and has already sent shipments to South Africa, Kuwait, South America, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
Bounce’s investors include venture debt firm Innoven Capital, Accel, B Capital, Falcon Edge, Qualcomm, Chirate, Omidyar Network, and Maverick Capital, in addition to Sequoia. It has so far raised more than $220 million.
Wicked Ride started out as a rental service for high-end performance motorcycles. It then shifted its focus to app-based scooter rentals and rebranded as Bounce. At one point, the company had a fleet of over 25,000 vehicles. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the scooter rental industry was severely harmed, and Bounce scaled back operations, liquidating the majority of its scooter fleet.
The company shifted gears once more, this time to focus on manufacturing and selling electric vehicles (EVs) under the Bounce Infinity brand. In 2021, it paid approximately $5 million for a 100% stake in 22Motors. The latter had its own plans to launch EVs as early as 2018, but those never came to fruition.
Bounce Infinity’s EV plans included the establishment of a battery-swapping network. This would allow the company to sell scooters without batteries, significantly lowering the price. Customers could rent charged batteries from the company’s network, similar to how petrol-powered scooters are refueled.
In other news, the company laid off over 100 employees and a similar number of contract workers earlier this month in order to cut costs. “Electric vehicles are not an easy business. There were excess expenses and they got too many people onboard,” the former employee mentioned above said.
