International News
$35 million round in Driverzy ,Yamaha in talks to lead.
Drivezy is a Y Combinator summer 2016 batch startup. It has so far raised $28 million in equity financing from the likes of Das Capital
According to two sources aware of the development, Yamaha, which is an existing investor in Drivezy through its Silicon-Valley-based venture investment arm Innovation and Mobility Fund, may invest from its balance sheet this time in the company’s ongoing Series C round
Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha Motor Company is in advanced discussions to lead a $35 million (about Rs 250 crore) founded round in the Delaware- and Bengaluru-based mobility company,Drivezy .According to two sources aware of the development, Yamaha, which is an existing investor in Drivezy through its Silicon-Valley-based venture investment arm Innovation and Mobility Fund, may invest from its balance sheet this time in the company’s ongoing Series C round.
Drivezy is a Y Combinator summer 2016 batch startup. It has so far raised $28 million in equity financing from the likes of Das Captial, the investment firm founded by Japanese serial entrepreneur and investor Shinji Kimura, Bain Capital, the multi-asset alternative investment firm cofounded by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, European investment firm Accent Equity Partners and IT-Farm Corp.
In addition, it has also secured a $100-million asset financing deal, backed by Japan’s AnyPay, which it planned to use to build up its vehicle fleet. Overall, the company has raised an estimated $128 million in asset financing to date.Drivezy co-founder Ashwarya Singh did not respond to calls and messages sent by ET. Investment banks Cilix Capital and Kotak are believed to be handling the mandate for the fundraising round, according to the sources cited above.
The company had initially planned to raise an estimated $60 million in financing, and held discussions with SoftBank at a time when the Tokyo-based strategic investment giant was looking at deals in the venture capital-backed Indian mobility space.
However, investor interest in the segment has cooled, with a number of marquee firms preferring to adopt a wait-and-watch stance, even as stratups operating in the space looked to scale while improving their unit economics. Bounce, which competes with Drivezy, recently announced a $105 million financing round led by its existing investors, B Capital Group and Accel Growth. Separately, scooter sharing startup Vogo was reported to have raised $35 million in January, led by Lightstone Aspada, having been in the market for fresh funding for months.
Founded in 2015 by Singh, Amit Sahu, Abhishek Mahajan and Vasant Verma, Drivezy, which was formerly known as JustRide, claims to be largest mobility platform in India, doing 110,000-120,000 rides a month.
The company operates in 11 cities across the country including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad, and also launched its services in San Francisco in June last year. According to data shared by the company, it operates 17,000 two-wheelers and 4,000 four-wheelers.
