Electric mobility startup Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd, on Monday announced that it has raised Rs 653 crore (close to $82 million) in its Series B funding round, led by US-based mobility technology company Magna International Inc. Existing investors including publicly listed Bajaj Auto also participated in the round.
Yulu plans to use the funds to strengthen its leadership through product and technology innovation. The startup is also planning to increase its electric vehicle fleet to more than 1 lakh, along with more than 500 battery charging and swapping stations in the next 12 months.
“We can see a 100 times growth opportunity for Yulu in both the mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and battery-as-a-service (BaaS) businesses in the next three-four years. As the market leader in electric mobility, with a proven business model built on positive unit economics, our focus now will be to establish a robust and agile supply chain and scale up our operations,” said Amit Gupta, co-founder and chief executive officer, Yulu.
This business expansion will lead to Yulu becoming free cash flow and will lay the foundation for exponential growth, the company said in a release.
“We will go deeper and denser in our existing markets and explore new areas while delivering a great customer experience,” said Gupta.
Founded in 2017 by Amit Gupta, Yulu offers last-mile connectivity to travellers via its electric bikes. The startup also operates a network of EV charging and battery swapping network.
With Magna, Yulu is coming up with a new entity, Yulu Energy, to create a nationwide battery charging and swapping infrastructure to cater to the demand from Yulu as well as vehicles made by other original equipment manufacturers.
The infrastructure is expected to reduce the upfront cost of buying EVs and will accelerate the adoption of electric mobility in India, the company said.
“Micromobility presents a great opportunity for additional growth for Magna, and joining forces with Yulu helps us expand our business into this rapidly growing sector,” said Matteo Del Sorbo, executive vice president, Magna International and global lead of Magna New Mobility.
In the past, Yulu has raised funds from Rocketship.vc, Blume Ventures, Bajaj Auto Ltd, 3one4 Capital, Tracxn Labs and Incubate Capital Partners. In June 2020, the startup raised close to Rs 30 crore. Also, in In November 2019, Bajaj Auto Ltd invested around Rs 57.1 crore in Yulu Bikes.
The Indian EV segment is expected to receive investments worth $12.6 billion across the automotive supply chain by 2026, as per a joint report by Indospace and Colliers. 64% of the investments are expected to be made in automakers and the rest in battery manufacturing, the report noted.
Last year, total private equity and venture capital investments in the electric mobility segment jumped to $1.7 billion in 2021, from just $181 million in 2020, according to a joint report titled ‘Electrifying Indian Mobility’ by IVCA-EY-Induslaw.