1. Who is an Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and
enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source
of new ideas, goods, services, and business or procedures.
 
Various sources define an entrepreneur as a person who plays a key role in an economy as
they possess the skills and resources to come up with the idea to bridge the gap between
present and future needs of an economy. They are the ones who bear the risk and persevere
till their venture takes off, and in turn, enjoy the fruits of their hard work. In the process of
establishing their place in the market, they create employment opportunities for the citizens
and pay them wages/salaries, therefore increasing the standard of living for many, mobilise
resources in order to run their businesses, provide competition to existing businesses and
keep the prices of` products/ services in check, come up with innovative ideas, hence
making lives comfortable for many.
Entrepreneurs are very important to any nation for the aforementioned reasons as they are
the highest generators of employment after the government sector. They bridge the gap in
the economy by turning resources available into products or services required by the
consumers in the economy. They are also the harbingers of foreign exchange in cases where
their business involves offshore transactions.
The government is promoting entrepreneurship by introducing various initiatives such as
Make in India, Startup India, National Skill Development Mission, etc. Initiatives such as
Make in India are a win-win situation for both the entrepreneurs and the government as the
entrepreneurs get various benefits such as tax relief, subsidized prices, etc. And the
government gets help in bridging the gap in the Indian economy, wherein the manufacturing
sector is the least developed.
 
Therefore, entrepreneurs form the backbone of the economy and helping entrepreneurs is
equivalent to helping the economy. However, entrepreneurship and innovation are
dependent on access and participation. For entrepreneurs to bring innovative ideas to life,
they need access to education, resources, and a level-playing field to compete. The role of
government leaders and public policy is to create conditions that allow more entrepreneurs
to start businesses by implementing policies which nurture an environment for businesses to
grow.

2. About the CEO

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A chartered accountant by qualification, Vivekananda Hallekere is a well-known
entrepreneur based out of Bangalore, hailing from the Hassan district of Karnataka.
Vivekananda graduated in the year 2007 from Vijaya College, Bangalore. He had a work
experience of 7 years before starting Wickedride in 2014, his experience being as follows:

I. BMS (Badari Madhusudhan & Srinivasan)

Period: 2007-2010
Position: Audit Assistant
Role: Involved in Statutory Audits of Companies in Power Generation and
Transmission, and hands-on experience in Internal Audits of Companies in Software
and Manufacturing Industry.

II. B S R & Co., (KPMG)

Period 2011-12
Department: Corporate tax and Regulatory Services
Experience: Direct tax, Tax advisory on with-holding tax implication, DTAA, FEMA
and RBI

III. Period 2012-14

Assistance in setting up businesses in Singapore, USA and UK

Expertise in incorporating companies in India, FEMA and RBI compliance
requirement for Companies with FDI. Having competent edge over International
taxation, FEMA and RBI related compliances. He worked on incorporating
Companies in India with FDI from USA, Germany, Australia and Singapore.
Customized compliance and regulatory services for start up Companies in India.
Specialties: Corporate tax, FEMA and RBI compliance, Labour laws and Companies
Act provisions.

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 Figure 1: CEO & Co-founder Vivekananda Hallekere

3. Company Overview

Name of the company: Bounce

Type of business: Dockless Scooter Sharing Service
Location: 721/26, 18th Main, 38th Cross, Jayanagar, 4th T Block, Bengaluru, Karnataka
560041
CEO and co-founder: Vivekananda Hallekere
Inception: 2014 (Started as Wickedride)
Target audience: Customers of more than 18 years of age
 
Bounce is India's first smart mobility solution, with a mission of making daily commute
stress-free, time-saving, reliable and convenient. Bounce (earlier called metro bikes), the
utility arm of Wickedride, focuses on solving the commute problem of users. The founder of
Bounce Vivekananda Hallekere, with the help of two of his friends, Varun Agni, and G
Anil, who was keen on the idea of a dock-less ride-sharing system that is already popular in
different parts of the world, decided to launch Bounce. This was predominantly aimed at
providing seamless first mile and last-mile connectivity to metro users. Bounce aims to
decongest the roads by encouraging commuters to choose public transport by providing
convenient options to rent bikes and reach their destinations from metro stations
conveniently.

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It is a two-wheeler rental solution provider which allows users to identify a scooter near
them and then book the vehicle, drive it themselves to the destined location and leave it
there with a breakthrough technology that lets users access the scooter with just an OTP.
Their state-of-the-art keyless scooters have not only done away with keys, but the whole
process of renting a scooter has just become devoid of any physical or human intervention.
They feel that personal scooters are used maximum for 2 hours in a day and used by only
one person most of the times. If one scooter can be used by multiple people and they pay for
every use, it reduces the number of scooters on the road. Also, it effectively utilizes the asset
and helps in reducing the carbon footprint from manufacture to disposal.
Users could drop their vehicle at any legal public parking and pay only for the time and
distance they used the scooter for. Users do not have to struggle and waste their time on
finding destined parking location, unlike other apps. Their technology-enabled solution aims
to offer low-cost transportation that can help cover short distances in the fastest time
possible. With most intra-city commute being under 5 km, the service is seeing massive
adoption by the citizens, with the cost being just 5 rupees per Km and 50 paise per minute,
with the option of two people sharing a ride, making it more economical and emission
friendly ride around the town. Users do not require to add fuel in the vehicle or spend on the
fuel. In case the vehicle runs out of fuel and the user adds fuel in the vehicle, Bounce
refunds the fuel cost. The refund amount is 30% over and above the amount than what the
user paid. Users have to take a picture of the fuel bill and submit it in the app. The refund of
the fuel cost happens within 2 to 7 days.
They have focused not only on the commute problems of the user but also the safety aspects
of the user, as they offer helmets along with the vehicle and provide an additional helmet as
per the request of the user. They are also working with traffic police to curb traffic
violations, as after getting a challan for a traffic violation, they penalize the users on their
next ride. To avail the service, they ask for the user’s driving license and information about
their residences. If a user is a repeat offender, they block him/ her from using Bounce’s
service.

4. Idea Behind the Business

The journey of the founder of Bounce: Vivekananda into the mobility space did not begin
with Bounce, or Metro Bikes, as it was earlier called. In fact, in 2014, he founded
Wickedride, a premium bike rental platform. The idea to start Wickedride came to him
when Vivek had to wait 12 months for a Royal Enfield after placing his order for one. He
found it ridiculous that someone had to wait for so long for one bike. Only then he realized
that it would be a problem for any high-end bike: Harley Davidson, Hayabusa, or any other
luxury bike, and instead of spending several lakhs, it is better to rent one. He wanted to
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make these premium bikes easily accessible for an ordinary man. Initially, in 2014, he
brought two bikes for starting Wickedride and opened a Facebook page to monitor customer
reactions. After some time two friends of Vivekananda, Anil G, and Vivek Agni joined
Wickedride.

The idea of Bounce came to them when the first expansion of the metro line opened in
Bengaluru in 2016. They wondered if it would transform commuting in the city. They soon
realized that if they wanted to address mobility at large, they had to look at the Point A-to-B
commute (first and last-mile connectivity). Currently, the reason first and the last-mile
commute is a challenge in India because infrastructure development in the country is not
moving at the same pace as urbanization in big cities. To address this challenge, the team
looked at different modes of transport: cars, two-wheelers, and cycles. They chose two-
wheelers, as it seemed like the natural choice. India though is the largest two-wheeler
market, only 18% of the people have access to personal mobility. Ease of commute means
ease of livelihood. They realized that the only way to decongest the city is by encouraging
people to use public transport such as the Metro. But people do not use it or find it tough to
use because the first mile and last mile commute is broken. They felt that by allowing users
to ride a scooter themselves, they will be able to solve this problem since scooters are very
common in India, and most people know how to ride one.

5. Reason for start-up in Bangalore

Bangalore is a cosmopolitan city, and people are willing and happy to try new things here.
Also, the city is small compared to other urban cities. The best thing is the weather in
Bangalore and needless to say Bangalore has the best tech talent available which is an added
advantage for them. According to the transport department, Bengaluru is home to over 7.6
million private vehicles, as per a 2018 report, with the increase in vehicles traffic also is
very high. Majority of people in Bangalore are working professionals, relocated from
different parts of the country, and hence bringing their vehicles to Bangalore is difficult.
Coincidentally, around the same time, the authorities at the metro in Bangalore were
working with bike-sharing companies, trying to find a more ideal option for metro
commuters’ first and last-mile connectivity.

6. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Bounce has created a new way of moving people, making it the most affordable and
flexible. Bounce began working on the hardware and technology to build the dockless
scooter-sharing model. Bounce uses IoT-enabled technology to track its bikes. IoT

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technology has enabled us to analyze the data much more efficiently, effectively and
effortlessly than ever before. IoT is nothing but the network of physical things that are
embedded with software, sensors, and connectivity capabilities of receiving and transmitting
data.
Bounce procures scooters from OEM’s (Honda, TVS, Ather, Hero, etc.) Scooters are then
moved to the plant at Kadugodi, Whitefield where they are retrofitted with IoT and control
devices. The plant can do over 150 retrofitting on a day to day basis. With the far-reaching
implications of IoT, the scooters and other vehicles are not left untouched. The Bounce
scooters powered by IoT technology are very much trackable right from the headquarters.
The company can also make sure that the scooters are not taken out of the city limits by
locking them right away if the rider tries to take it beyond the boundary.
They also have a facility to pick up and drop the bikes anywhere anytime in the city and
there are no destined parking locations for bounce bikes making it easier for the users. This
would help users unlock the vehicles without a key, drive it to where they wanted in the
city, and drop it off at their destination, wherever that may be. Bounce’s three bike rental
plans – commute (assured bike every day), short ride (pick and drop anywhere), and long
ride (long duration rentals) – are aimed at encouraging commuters to opt for shared and
public transport, and in doing so, reducing traffic congestion. Also, they feel that by
enabling people to move faster through multi-model solutions it helps people save time to
do things they love to do rather than being stuck in traffic.
They also observed that even homemakers are using their vehicles to drop off or pick up
their children from schools. Dock models are functional in 12 cities whereas dockless
models function in Bangalore itself. They aim at providing n number of vehicles in a city
and then move onto the next city.

Commute
Assured bike
everyday

Figure 2: Types of service by Bounce

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7. Journey So Far

The business commenced first as ‘Wickedride’, launched in October 2014, which included 2
bikes to analyze how the market reacted to the idea of luxury, hub-to-hub bike rental
service. The results of the prototype were phenomenal as both the bikes were booked
throughout the day. Therefore, the fleet of 2 bikes was expanded to 10 bikes in February
2015, and in 2016, the company decided to expand in Bangalore and to other tier 2 and tier
3 cities.
This idea was moved to bike rentals during metro construction in Bangalore in 2016 as a
scooter rental business. The USP of the app i.e. keyless technology went live in September
2018, and today, it is the world’s largest dockless scooter rental company, with
approximately 70,000 rides/ day (60% of Ola’s daily rides), and have completed 50,00,000
rides in the past 10 months.

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 Present Day

Figure 3: Journey so far

8. Competition

The business model of Bounce works on a very different model when compared to other
existing bike rental apps in Bangalore and other cities around the world. What makes
Bounce unique and different from other app-based bike rentals is the fact that Bounce
focuses on the first mile and last-mile connectivity from metro stations in Bangalore (hub-
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to-hub model). Hence for Bounce, unlike other such apps like Vogo, Revv, Drivezy, etc.,
There is no waiting time involved after booking the bike and no fixed pick-up or drop point,
unlike Vogo, wherein the pickup and drop locations are specified. Due to the business
model being very different from other apps, there is no specific competition for Bounce.

9. Marketing and Public Relations

The marketing strategy of Bounce is just like its dock-less technology, i.e. unique and
intelligent. Bounce uses mediums such as digital advertisements, radio, newspaper, etc. to
educate its users to drive responsibly, wear a helmet, and avoid road rage. Bounce is also
using its marketing campaign to address issues like vandalism, safe parking, etc. The
advertisements published by them do not selfishly promote Bounce, but also tackle issues
prevalent on the roads of Bangalore. Therefore, Bounce very intelligently maintains public
relations while marketing itself, in one go.
The brand ambassador of Bounce is a well-renowned RJ and actor, Danish Sait. He can be
seen in one of the advertisements using Bounce Scooter, explaining the challenges faced by
the people of the city during their daily commute, and how Bounce conveniently resolves
the same.

10. Financial Plan & Recent Investments

They did not opt for equity funding. Debt was the basic medium they used as funding
Banks, NBFCs, OEMs Family Officer such as Sachin Bansal gave them the funding for
their start-up. Vivekananda (CEO) being a CA was profited to frame the financial
engineering of the company. The investors were little skeptical to invest in a start-up
company like bounce but by a countless meeting and showing the success of prototype they
were lucky enough to convince them. They are very thankful for the support given to them
by investors. They raised $ 72 million in a Series C financing round led by B Capital Group
and Falcon Edge Capital. The investment took the valuation of the company to over $220
million.
Accel Partners India, Accel Partners USA, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar
Network India, Sequoia Capital India, and Qualcomm Ventures were the active participants
involved with the fundings.
Recently Bounce has raised investments worth $12.2 million led by Sequoia India and Accel
Partners. Also ‘Taxi for sure’ and a consortium of other investors have invested in Bounce.
These current investments will be used to scale up its network of 2000 scooters in Bangalore
to 30,000 in the next 10 months.

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11. Hardships and Challenges

It has been a roller-coaster journey for Bounce so far. Since the concept was new to the
market, it was not accepted by the consumers immediately. Bounce raised a loan worth INR
3.8 Crores for wicked rides, and despite 2017-18 being a turning point for their venture, they
paid back the loan amount in time. Honda stood behind them and supported them during
their tough times. Vivekananda believes it was a miracle that they survived. As mentioned
earlier, the way every individual uses Bounce was the main concern for Bounce. To
overcome the same, they came up with a marketing strategy in which they advertised road
safety slogans and added their name at the end of it, thereby marketing their brand along
with road safety instructions.
One of the company’s co-team member supported him in his hard time and said
“Entrepreneurs should be more ’delusional’ and not completely “logical”, as he believed
that logical people would give up in a day or two, but being delusional is what will make
him successful and inspire other aspiring entrepreneurs in the near future.

12. Awards and Recognition

Bounce has achieved many awards and appreciation in a short period. Bounce has won
the 5th annual Digital India summit 2019 for “Best initiative in Transport and Mobility
Solution”. Also, they won the “Mobility Start-up of the year” 2019 award at the
Entrepreneur India summit. They have also achieved a milestone of 70,000 rides/day in
Bangalore as of July 2019.
Beside scooters and motorcycles, Bounce has also ventured into other forms of personal
transport. In the future, the founders want to convert their entire fleet into electric
vehicles and are in active talks with partners in China and Taiwan to source such
products. 

13. Factors Behind the Success of Bounce

 Mobility:

Broken mobility in most parts of India. Only 18% of the population has access to personal
mobility, while the rest depend on public transport or other’s vehicle.
         
 Congestion in Urban Cities:

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No availability of public transport between 2 tier and 3 tier cities.
        
 Time Saver:

Living in the 21st Century, people have no time and are always in a hurry.  As the company
initially started in a city with heavy traffic where commuting from one end of the city to
another is very time-consuming, two-wheelers being efficient and time-saving help the
people in this virtue.
Also, the availability of a vehicle at one click saves a lot of time. Also, the availability of
parking space at every parking spot in the city easily helps them to handover the vehicle at
their desired destination.
 
 Dockless (Keyless):

The whole concept of making the vehicle dockless is the main factor that attracts consumers
to use these vehicles as it is highly convenient. Since there is no need for the key just
entering the provided OTP from the app will complete the job and riders can drive to their
desired destination.
 
 Economical:

People find paying Rupees 5 per KM and 50 paise per minute very economical and travel
efficiently.

14. Learning Experience and Conclusion

Upon interacting with the founder of Bounce, we learnt that the following traits are very
important to be a successful entrepreneur and businessman:
 Aware and vigilant of the surrounding environment to identify gaps in the supply and
demand scenario of the economy
 Mindful thinking to introduce innovative ways to fill the aforementioned gaps
 Evaluate the risk involved in turning the idea into a full-fledged venture, and allocate
time, money and other resources required in order to give life to the idea
 Not give up just because of the initial few hiccups
 Actively seek feedback from consumers and incorporate the same in the business
model to increase customer satisfaction

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15. References

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rel_AnUZe4
 https://bounceshare.com
 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/entrepreneur.asp
 http://www.bangaloreinsider.com/bounce/
 http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2018/sep/06/bounce-
your-way-around-town-with-bike-rentals-1868077.html
 https://www.deccanherald.com/city/empty-tanks-fuel-problems-for-rental-
bike-services-722585.html
 https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/208788-review-bounce-self-
drive-scooter-rentals.html
 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/bounce-gets-122-m-series-a-
funding-from-sequoia-others/article24636024.ece?
utm_campaign=amp_article_share&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=w
hatsapp.com
 https://yourstory.com/2019/04/startup-bounce-bike-rental-platform
 https://www.facebook.com/yourstorycom/videos/412827906181371/

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