VOGO Secures $11.5 Mn Funding In Series C Round Funds will be utilized to strengthen the company's commitment towards expansion and electrification of its fleet and bolster current execution capabilities to achieve profitability next year
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Tech-enabled self-ride two-wheeler rental service VOGO on Thursday announced that it has raised $11.5 million capital as an extension of the Series C round, from its existing investors including Lightrock, Kalaari, Matrix Partners, and Stellaris Venture Partners.
The capital infusion will be utilized to expand and electrify the fleet, to increase focus on achieving profitability by improving unit economics, asset utilization, and to optimize marketing growth through better consumer understanding.
With net positive contribution margins, the company has been said to be making strides towards achieving profitability by the end of this year.
Founded in 2016 by the alumni of IITs and IIMs, Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal, the company is a personal mobility solution provider that offers flexible, affordable, and reliable two-wheeler rides to daily commuters. Leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet-of-Things (IoT), the platform has built many industry-first solutions to offer seamless and automated riding experiences to its riders.
"VOGO strives to provide technology-driven safe and convenient mobility solutions to daily commuters. Our focus on a disciplined approach to growth during the pandemic has helped us to come out stronger with competitive scale and leadership in profitability. We are committed to building on our strengths and roll-out a profitable electric vehicle offering going forward. Having significantly improved our unit-level profitability in our existing business this year, we intend to utilize this capital to strengthen our product line and focus on better customer experience going forward," said Anand Ayyadurai, co-founder and chief executive officer, VOGO.
The company has designed three key services based on commuters' travel preferences: VOGO NOW for short durations, VOGO KEEP offers longer-term, from a day to two months and VOGO FLEXI KEEP offers customization of rental plans basis the need.
Since 2016, the platform has served more than 10 million rides covering about 130 million kilometers. Post pandemic, the company has witnessed an overwhelming response from both the cities and is registering strong month-on-month growth. With a vision to make urban commute efficient and eco-friendly, the company intends to expand its fleet and ride volumes significantly in the next 18 months, the company said.
"We are delighted to see the team at VOGO demonstrate resilience and come out of a tough year stronger made possible by the clarity of vision, backed by strong execution and an ethos focused on creating value. We continue to support them despite the uncertainty in funding in the sector because we believe this is the team that has the vision and execution to build a large mobility platform for the Indian customer," added Vaidhehi Ravindran, investor, Lightrock.
VOGO is backed by investors like Lightrock, Matrix Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, Kalaari, and ride-hailing platform Ola.
