The undoing of Vogo
The scooter rental startup seems to be at its wit’s end, and it seems founders and investors have given up on the company
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Editor's note: From a high in 2019, with huge funding rounds and big funds jostling to invest, mobility startups have had a terrible time the past couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic meant revenue largely dried up, investors turned sceptical of the economics of the market and companies pivoted sharply. Ola, the cab-hailing startup, sharply cut back on costs to stem the bleeding of capital, and while the company says business has returned to pre-pandemic levels, it’s looking to diversify more into verticals such as food and grocery delivery. Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal also seems to be focused far more on Ola Electric, his electric vehicle manufacturing venture that is entirely independent of Ola the taxi app. Likewise, Bengaluru-based Bounce has announced that it will also manufacture and sell electric scooters, while its core scooter rental business seems to be sidelined to some extent. Gurugram-based Shuttl, which ran a bus service for white-collar employees commuting to the office, threw in the towel and was acquired a few weeks ago in a slump sale by Mumbai-based Chalo, which runs a tracking app …
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