Scooter rental startup Vogo raises undisclosed amount for seed round
Vogo Rentals
Founder: Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mittal
Founded in: 2016
Financing status: Undisclosed amount for seed round in 2017
Bangalore-based scooter rental startup Vogo Rentals has reportedly secured an undisclosed amount for a seed funding round led by the family members of the Murugappa, A. V. Thomas and Thiagaraja Groups. Indian Formula One driver Karan Chandhok and other high-net-worth individuals also participated in the round.
Vogo Rentals was founded in 2016 by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal. Ayyadurai previously served as the business head of Brainvalley Solutions, a B2B assessment firm. Balakrishnan worked as a vice president of the e-commerce company Lazada Group. Mittal was vice president of GetKlarity, an app-based beauty and wellness company.
Vogo Rentals is an app-based, on-demand, and self-drive scooter rental startup. It is currently available at select pick-up locations in Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Hyderabad, and other cities. Users can make reservations for immediate pickup within 15 minutes through its Android app, and rental periods span from 30 minutes to one month. Rental prices range from INR 10 (USD 0.2) for 30 minutes up to INR 4000 (USD 70) for one month. Vogo is currently available in two Indian states, Karnataka and Telangana, and users can ride within the state the vehicle is registered. All users are required to hold either an Indian driver’s license or an International Driver’s Permit.
Ayyadurai, co-founder of Vogo, said that more than 15,000 students from 15 colleges across four cities have used the platform. The company believes that what happened in China with bicycle sharing will happen in India with scooter sharing. In 2017, Ayyadurai added, they focused on building an automated Internet of Things system to scale up the business and, as a result, now have end-to-end engineering capability across embedded systems, software development, and automotive space.
The startup will use the newly raised capital to build an automated technology platform, expand its tech team, and accelerate marking growth.
Other players in the motorbike or scooter rental area in India include Wheelstreet, WickedRide, Tazzo, ONN Bikes, Stoneheadbikes, Rentabike and others.
(Top photo from Pixabay)
