MyScoot, the community platform for home-hosted experiences, has raised $1.7 million (approx. INR 11.7 crores) in a round of seed funding featuring Lightspeed India Partners, Venture Highway, and Mayfield India.
MyScoot, which is a platform to meet verified new people at home-hosted social events, plans to use the funds to hire its core team, recruit top tech talent and more deeply penetrate their current market.
The funding is received from marquee institutional investors, who have a diverse portfolio across e-commerce, consumer tech, and digital communities.
Millennials in India are constantly looking for new social experiences and meaningful interactions, which has given rise to a $35B+ experiences market. What makes MyScoot different is it its 5-step profile verification process and the host’s ability to earn money from their home, according to their interests.
The funding will help MyScoot build AI-based social experience recommendations, develop their safe-guards, and establish a stronghold in their already active Delhi and Bangalore market. In addition to some of the strongest firms in Indian investment, MyScoot closed their funding round with angel investors, such as Kunal Shah, CEO of CRED, and Maninder Gulati, Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Rooms.
The product is reminiscent of the Airbnb model, where users, post-completing MyScoot’s 5 step verification process, are able to ‘host’ or ‘book’. The host sets the price point for their offering and earns money as they select guests to attend. Built to establish real connections, MyScoot offers bold, fresh, experiences and parties of all kinds from dinner parties, board game brunches, Salsa dance socials, to backyard bonfires.
All 30 and under, co-founders Suyash Sinha, Sidharth Rawat, Akhil Tripathi, and Somvir Yadav have built a solution for India’s largest asset - its youth. 2020 will mark India’s rise as the youngest country in the world with an average age of 29. MyScoot is a uniquely Indian solution to a uniquely Indian problem - highly digital youth, disconnected in a digital world.
Loneliness is on the rise with millenials on the move, following work opportunities across cities and countries. It can be hard to make meaningful connections in a city where one has no previous network. Realising first hand how difficult it was to meet and connect with people in bars and pubs, MyScoot’s founders, Suyash Sinha and Sidharth Rawat felt the need to for a better way to meet people.
Regarding the round of funding, Suyash Sinha, CEO & Co-Founder, MyScoot said, “We’re excited to have such seasoned investors and experts support the MyScoot mission - to make real connections in today’s digital, online world. Their belief in our vision will allow us to scale and create a stronger, more robust platform to better serve users. Our goal is to reach more of the world’s largest youth cohort, Indian millennials, enabling them to create bonds and build friendships in a new and meaningful way."
Nikhil Khattau, Managing Director, Mayfield India, highlighting the reason behind choosing to invest in MyScoot, said, “We’re passionate about MyScoot because it’s an idea larger than home-hosted parties. It’s a safe place for micro-communities, a non-digital space to forge connections.
The experience market is on the rise and MyScoot has tapped into something larger - one’s need to belong. There is no other solution in the market, building digital to non-digital relationships in such a manner. We’re proud to support a solution especially built to the largest young cohort in the world - Indian millennials.”
The Problem MyScoot is Solving:
Supporting micro-communities and local events, MyScoot caters to modern Indian consumers’ needs and desires - convenience, personalisation, and sense of belonging. (Deloitte)
The World Economic Forum identified ‘loneliness’ as an epidemic in 2019: “Chronic loneliness is a health concern across generations, with 40% of under-25-year old people reporting that they feel lonely."
23% of Indian students log into social media platforms for more than 8 hours daily due to low-battery anxiety, nomophobia, and FOMO, says research from Omidyar.
The Journey of MyScoot
MyScoot, which is a platform to meet verified new people at home-hosted social events, plans to use the funds to hire its core team, recruit top tech talent and more deeply penetrate their current market.
The funding is received from marquee institutional investors, who have a diverse portfolio across e-commerce, consumer tech, and digital communities.
Millennials in India are constantly looking for new social experiences and meaningful interactions, which has given rise to a $35B+ experiences market. What makes MyScoot different is it its 5-step profile verification process and the host’s ability to earn money from their home, according to their interests.
The funding will help MyScoot build AI-based social experience recommendations, develop their safe-guards, and establish a stronghold in their already active Delhi and Bangalore market. In addition to some of the strongest firms in Indian investment, MyScoot closed their funding round with angel investors, such as Kunal Shah, CEO of CRED, and Maninder Gulati, Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Rooms.
The product is reminiscent of the Airbnb model, where users, post-completing MyScoot’s 5 step verification process, are able to ‘host’ or ‘book’. The host sets the price point for their offering and earns money as they select guests to attend. Built to establish real connections, MyScoot offers bold, fresh, experiences and parties of all kinds from dinner parties, board game brunches, Salsa dance socials, to backyard bonfires.
All 30 and under, co-founders Suyash Sinha, Sidharth Rawat, Akhil Tripathi, and Somvir Yadav have built a solution for India’s largest asset - its youth. 2020 will mark India’s rise as the youngest country in the world with an average age of 29. MyScoot is a uniquely Indian solution to a uniquely Indian problem - highly digital youth, disconnected in a digital world.
Loneliness is on the rise with millenials on the move, following work opportunities across cities and countries. It can be hard to make meaningful connections in a city where one has no previous network. Realising first hand how difficult it was to meet and connect with people in bars and pubs, MyScoot’s founders, Suyash Sinha and Sidharth Rawat felt the need to for a better way to meet people.
Regarding the round of funding, Suyash Sinha, CEO & Co-Founder, MyScoot said, “We’re excited to have such seasoned investors and experts support the MyScoot mission - to make real connections in today’s digital, online world. Their belief in our vision will allow us to scale and create a stronger, more robust platform to better serve users. Our goal is to reach more of the world’s largest youth cohort, Indian millennials, enabling them to create bonds and build friendships in a new and meaningful way."
Nikhil Khattau, Managing Director, Mayfield India, highlighting the reason behind choosing to invest in MyScoot, said, “We’re passionate about MyScoot because it’s an idea larger than home-hosted parties. It’s a safe place for micro-communities, a non-digital space to forge connections.
The experience market is on the rise and MyScoot has tapped into something larger - one’s need to belong. There is no other solution in the market, building digital to non-digital relationships in such a manner. We’re proud to support a solution especially built to the largest young cohort in the world - Indian millennials.”
The Problem MyScoot is Solving:
Supporting micro-communities and local events, MyScoot caters to modern Indian consumers’ needs and desires - convenience, personalisation, and sense of belonging. (Deloitte)
The World Economic Forum identified ‘loneliness’ as an epidemic in 2019: “Chronic loneliness is a health concern across generations, with 40% of under-25-year old people reporting that they feel lonely."
23% of Indian students log into social media platforms for more than 8 hours daily due to low-battery anxiety, nomophobia, and FOMO, says research from Omidyar.
The Journey of MyScoot
- August 2017 - MyScoot beta launched via a Google Form amongst friends of friends, gaining more than 500 registrations within days
- September 2018 - MyScoot formally launched
- March 2019 - MyScoot raised 150,000 USD as part of Y-Combinator Winter 2019 batch
- July 2019 - MyScoot closed Seed round of USD 1.7M and has 2000+ bookings and 200+ hosts
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