Blubble Pvt. Ltd which operates electric vehicle startup Turno has raised $3.1 million (Rs 23.8 crore) in an equity funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners, along with Avaana Capital.
The round saw participation from several angel investors including Vipul Parekh of Bigbasket, Jayant Paleti of Darwinbox, Lizzie Chapman and Priyamvada Sharma of Zestmoney, Dhyanesh Shah of Mosaic Wellness, Matilde Giglio of Even; Rohit Bhat of Airavat Capital, Aditya Systla of Eight Roads, Arjun Rao of Speciale Invest, Bala Parthasarathy of Freo Money, Archit Gupta of Clear, Ashish Goel of Urban Ladder, Kunal Khattar of Advantedge and the Goenka Family Office of the Indian Express.
Turno said It has partnered with 3-wheeler electric OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like Mahindra, Piaggio, Omega Seiki Mobility, and Etrio among others. Turno has a team of 60 people, over the next 1-2 months, the company looks to launch its operations in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, and NCR.
The startup has been operating in stealth mode since April 2022. For two months of operations, Turno has launched a beta version of its customer app which provides instant feedback to customers on how their battery is performing and actively suggests changes in their vehicle usage behaviour to extend the battery life. Turno has introduced tech-based solutions at all major OEM dealerships for instant customer conversions.
The company said it has built a proprietary early warning system which leverages IoT (internet of things) data from connected vehicles and predicts the consumer credit performance in advance enabling bank and NBFC (non-banking financial company) partners to build commercial EV loan books with confidence.
“At Turno, we envision the future of Indian transportation to be completely electric with zero dependence on fossil fuels. Today, commercial vehicles constitute about 80-85% of the entire fuel consumption in the country and our mission is to replace all diesel miles in commercial vehicles with electric miles,” said Hemanth Aluru, co-founder, chief executive officer, Turno.
The electric mobility space in India is witnessing significant traction even as startups struggle to attract investment amid a prevailing funding winter.
This week, the Battery-swapping network for electric vehicles Battery Smart raised $25 million in its Series A funding round led by Tiger Global.
On 23 June EV charging network startup Statiq raised $25.7 million (over ₹200 crore) in a funding round led by Shell Ventures.
On 24 June, electric mobility and energy storage-focused startup, Matter raised $10 million in its first round of funding from Info Edge’s Capital 2B Fund 1, Climate Angel Fund, among others.
Notably, the Indian EV space has seen interest from multiple West Asian players in the last couple of months. Earlier in June, Dubai-based META4 Group said it will invest Rs 250 crore to set up an electric vehicle plant in the southern state of Telangana, marking its foray into the green mobility space in the country.
Similarly, Saudi Arabia-based global investor Abdul Latif Jameel committed to invest up to $220 million (around Rs 1,700 crore) in a 2-3-wheeler mobility company, Greaves Electric Mobility.
Bengaluru-based Ather Energy has also initiated discussions with investment banks, mulling possibilities of an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future, VCCircle had reported.
In May, 2-wheeler mobility startup eBikeGo said it had marked the final close of its pre-Series A funding of $5 million, again backed by multiple West Asian investors.
