Leading the Movement Towards Sustainable and Affordable Mobility: Why We Invested in Bounce

^{"By increasing the affordability and convenience of short-distance commutes through its ride-sharing platform and bike ownership with its range of affordable Electric Vehicle (‘EV’) two-wheelers, Bounce is transforming mobility for millions of urban residents. The company’s fleet of EVs is reducing carbon emissions and decongesting roads. Bounce is an exemplar of tech-led innovation making utilitarian products and services more accessible to the Next Half Billion while creating sector change"}‍

Of the 15 most crowded cities in the world, three are Indian. Meanwhile, towns across India continue to grow into cities, and the cities themselves continue to grow and expand past their peri-urban limits. Yet, urban infrastructure has not been able to keep up with this rate of growth. The result is severely congested roads, overwhelmed public transport networks, ever-increasing journey distances & times, higher per-capita trip rates for public transport, and deteriorating air quality.

Then there is the issue of vehicular ownership spiraling upwards. As of 2019, there were 295 million registered vehicles in India, up from 142 million in 2011. Three-quarters of these are two-wheelers, and eight out of 10 vehicles sold in India continue to be two-wheelers. All of this means significantly more vehicles will be plying on Indian roads as income levels continue to rise over time. Add to this the inadequacy of public transport infrastructure, lack of inexpensive and convenient first mile and last-mile linkages and what you have is a large gap to be bridged in the affordable short distance commute space.

It was a combination of these insights that led to the launch of Bounce in 2018. Launched as a self-ride rental platform that aimed to redefine urban mobility, the company began its journey as a fleet of scooters that users can unlock through their mobile phones and pay for on a highly affordable, per-kilometer basis.

The company rolled out its operations in Bengaluru with 100 dockless scooters and in just 10 months it completed 5 million rides, making it one of the fastest-growing startups in the world, at par with global competitors like Lime and Bird.

Redefining personal mobility

Today, Bounce is literally redefining how India moves by taking the driver’s seat in the shift from traditional internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. To this end, it offers a full two-wheeler-based mobility stack’. Its self-ride, vehicle sharing platform works towards ensuring seamless transport for its users. In its own manufacturing facility, it is building Bounce Infinity, an affordable range of electric (two-wheeler) vehicles (EV) for different use-cases across India’s cities and towns. And they are also creating the world’s largest and densest EV 'Battery Swapping' platform. Bounce’s innovative pricing for each of its offerings means that every Indian can access its services.

Founders Vivekananda HR, Varun Agni, and Anil G believe that ‘mobility is a fundamental right and Bounce will make this accessible in a sustainable way.’ Our investment in Bounce aligns strongly with Omidyar Network India’s focus to support companies that provide better access to utilitarian products and services to the largely under-served lower and middle-income population. We believe that Bounce’s ‘new age public transport’ model has the potential to transform transportation but also have an impact on decongesting roads as well as helping reduce our carbon footprint. So, we can positively say that this is one journey we’re extremely excited about !