Cab hailing platform, Ola is looking at investing Rs 40 crore to Rs 45 crore in scooter rental start-up Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd, according to reports. Venture capital firms Stellaris Ventures Partners and Matrix Partners will also be a part of this round of funding, reports quoted people familiar with the deal, without naming them.
As part of the proposed deal, Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) will lead the round, followed by Stellaris and Matrix. Investor interest in the bike rental space has gathered pace over the past two years. Earlier this year, Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital invested in Metro Bikes. Bengaluru-based motorbike rental marketplace Wheelstreet raised $120,000 from US-based accelerator giant Y Combinator. Similar ventures such as Tazzo and ONN Bikes have also attracted investor attention.
In September, Vogo Automotive had raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from AV Thomas Group chairman Ajit Thomas, former Formula One driver Karun Chandhok and other individual investors.
Steps taken by Ola, over the last year, indicate that the company is looking at becoming a leading player in the urban transport segment and take rival Uber head-on. Earlier this month, Ola bought transportation information provider Ridlr (Birds Eye Systems Pvt. Ltd) to expand its public transportation business. In December, Ola not only started testing a bicycle sharing service in IIT Kanpur campus called Ola Pedal, it also spent $40-50 million to buy food ordering app Foodpanda to re-enter the food delivery business.
Ola also has a payments business called Ola Money.