Electric scooter manufacturer Bounce expects to achieve Ebitda break-even in FY24, on the back of higher sales projections, new launches and lower expenses, CEO and co-founder, Vivekananda Hallekere told FE.
Bounce was founded in 2018 by Hallekere, Anil G and Varun Agni after their earlier venture Wickedride, a luxury motorcycle rental platform, failed to take off. The company was initially a scooter rental company for last-mile connectivity in cities like Bengaluru. However, in 2022, it stopped being a rental company and moved into manufacturing of electric scooters.
Hallekere said that the company has put 7,000 scooters on Indian roads in the past 12 months — from the time it entered into manufacturing — and expects to sell about 3,000 units each month in the next six to eight months from now. This would be up from around 1,250 vehicles that it currently sells each month. Players like Ola Electric and Ather sell around 8,000 vehicles every month.
With increased sales, revenues is expected to reach Rs 100 crore in FY23, from Rs 16 crore in FY22. The company’s net loss in FY22 was at Rs 243 crore. Hallekere did not give the expected loss number for FY23 but said that it would be in double digits. He said that revenues are likely to be around Rs 360 crore in FY24.
“We are a much leaner team of 250 people now, so our costs are in control. We also have three new products in the pipeline which we will launch over the coming year. These will be vehicles with a higher range and cost around `120,000 and help push up our sales,” Hallekere said.
Bounce has slashed its team size from about 2,000 employees to around 250 now, which has helped it reduce its cash burn rate to `2 crore a month, a person aware of the developments said. It is in the midst of a fundraise of $20 million. Hallekere said the company had received the first tranche, but did not specify the exact amount. “Even after we turn profitable, we’ll be raising more money as manufacturing needs that kind of investments,” he said.
Sources said Bounce is raising the money at a valuation of $150-200 million, down from around $500 million it commanded earlier. It is also among the few EV makers that follows a battery swapping policy, when companies like Ather and Ola Electric have dismissed the move. “Battery swapping is essential to increase EV penetration because it brings down scooter prices by 40-50%,” Hallekere said.