Scooter-sharing platform Vogo raises $100mn from Ola
Bengaluru-based dockless scooter renting platform Vogo has raised a whopping $100mn from Indian ride-hailing giants Ola. With Vogo having picked up momentum of late, the fresh funds, to be invested in 100,000 additional scooters, is expected to help the scooter sharing platform scale up. Additionally, Vogo's offerings, wherever available, will also be available on the Ola app. Here are the details.
Vogo is a young kid on the block, and was founded two years ago by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal. The start-up raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A funding round led by Ola and Hero MotorCorp chairman Pawan Munjal. Vogo currently offers scooter renting services in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and claim to have already served over 20 million km of rides.
The Vogo platform offers IoT-enabled scooters that can be rented for short-distance, one-way trips. Users can use the app to locate scooters, and unlocking occurs via OTP. Scooters can be picked up from one point, and deposited at another, without the need for docking stations.
The start-up was founded with a vision to move towards smart and sustainable mobility in India. Having studied the Indian market, Vogo believes that India presents a unique market that for scooter and bike rentals. They believe that the Indian market could be exploited to create value for all, through innovative solutions, nuanced understanding, and backing of right partners,
As mentioned earlier, Vogo already has an established network in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Of late, their popularity has soared so much that the platform has seen an unbelievable growth of 10x over the past five months. With Ola's investment and understanding of mobility, Vogo is now planning to add over 1,000 pickup/drop points in Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the coming year.
Indeed, the market for scooter and bike-sharing in India is ripening. Another such start-up, Rapido, already operates a few thousand bikes in Bengaluru and Gurugram. Yet another, Bounce, recently raised over $12mn. While Uber had capitalized on the opportunity earlier by launching uberMOTO in certain cities, Ola, with its investment in Vogo, has officially stamped its entry into the segment.
"Our investment in Vogo will help build a smart multi-modal network for first-last mile connectivity in the country. Vogo's automated scooter-sharing platform, backed by Ola's expertise in this space, can help transform our cities," said Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.
