Bengaluru Based Bike Taxi Start-Up Hey Bob Halts Operations

Bike Taxi firm, based in Bengaluru, Hey Bob has suspended operations barely a year after launching its services due to a shortage of funds. The co-founder of Hey Bob told VC Circle.

According to reports, founder and CEO at Hey Bob – Vishal Kumar BM said,

“We had to stop because of lack of funds. It is not that we have shut down but we have stopped operations for some time now. Company had stopped its business-to-consumer services a month ago and has now also suspended its business-to-business operations.”

The startup, operated by Helion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, had secured an undisclosed amount in angel funding last year. It was operational in Mumbai and Bengaluru and had around 500 riders. The work model of company was similar to that of Ola and Uber wherein users could book their rides through the app.

India is one of the world’s largest two-wheeler markets and the on-demand bike taxi segment exploded over the past year. As many as 40 app-based companies are estimated to have started operations in various cities. These include MTaxi, Bikxie, Baxi, TuWheelz, Mobike, NOW and Rapido.

Earlier this year, Bike taxi and hyperlocal delivery app NOW secured $500,000 (Rs 3.35 crore) in angel funding from Jaipuria Group’s managing director Ruchirans Jaipuria and Supreme Motors’ director Anuj Sanghi.

Earlier, Uber and ola also tried to enter two wheeler taxi business model, however the company had to the operations due to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 in Karnataka that ruled stating two-wheeler is observed as private transport and the bike taxis need to be licensed in case if it used for commercial purpose.

However UberMOTO, the bike taxi service of Uber, is operational in Gurgaon and Ahmedabad while Ola Bike is functional only in Gurgaon.