Weaving Ride Sharing Platform Running on Debt Financing and IoT Democratizing commute can be the answer to solving the problem of commute

Debt financing for two-wheelers has progressed pretty well in India owing to the form factor of two-wheelers and the existing infrastructure around it. Scooters are sold in millions in the country and there is a great second-hand market to this. As a result, unlike any other lending, the underlying asset has liquidity which means in case of default, it's easy to repossess and sell. "Because of this ability, loans or finance for scooters will be easy and secure. Also, there are not many instruments which have a strong underlying asset. So, scaling scooters by creating a new debt instrument where anyone could participate would mean that it's highly scalable," explains Vivekananda Hallekere, the co-founder & CEO of Bounce.

Hallekere in talks with BIZ Experiences India explains more about the ride-sharing industry that is climbing the graph of popularity in the country.

Democratizing commute

Startups have been the best answer to social issues so far. Population in India is choking the country and its lives to an extent where the country is choking inside out in every way possible. While for the future generation we can take steps to control the population, the existing population needs assistance before the rising population engulfs them completely. Democratizing commute and making it accessible to everyone is a major way that can help people living in the most populated areas.

One such initiative that targets to democratize commute is Bounce, a dockless ride-sharing company. The co-founder & CEO says, "It lets users pick and drop the scooter from anywhere in the city." People have started noticing the ride-sharing ideas that startups are employing in their businesses and are embracing them in their daily lives. Hallekere mentions, "Bounce has seen the great market response, which in fact has rendered us supply-constrained. We are now working on scaling supply to meet the demand."

The Bangalore based startup is also trying to be an answer to the issue of excessive use of oil and its fluctuating prices by switching to "100 per cent electric".

Technologies Bounce is Riding on

A lot of innovations around hardware, firmware, GPS technology has been done to scale Bounce. Most of these are being done for the first time and for India conditions.

Bounce offers its services through Android, iOS and website, and as Hallekere mentions, the ride-sharing company implements IoT in its endeavour. "IoT on the scooters are proprietary and has been built by the company. It has evolved to keep in mind the telecom network and black spots in the city. The technology enables to secure and access our scooters," explains Hallekere. Sharing more insights on the same, he says that the scooters are equipped with smart access system indigenously developed to give temporary access to scooter through OTP. They have developed smart IoT modules to track and control the assets.

Planning the Year Ahead

Although the company has no plans to get into the four-wheeler space, they have planned its moves for the whole year. "The next 12 months will see our focus in expanding and being operational in as many cities as possible, in India. Also, we do not have any plans of foraying into the four-wheeler space," says Hallekere.