Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd, which operates e-mobility-based transport startup Yulu, has raised Rs 30 crore (approximately $3.96 million at current exchange rates) in a fresh round of funding.
The round has been led by Rocketship.vc, a US-based venture firm. Other participants in the round include existing backers, Yulu said in a statement.
According to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, other investors in the company include Blume Ventures, Bajaj Auto Ltd, 3one4 Capital, Tracxn Labs and Incubate Capital Partners.
The Bengaluru-based company said it will use the funds for expansion, strengthening its platform and technological infrastructure.
Yulu was set up in 2017 by Amit Gupta, the co-founder of the mobile advertising technology platform InMobi. It says it is targeting the first- and last-mile connectivity for consumers via bicycles and e-bikes. It initially began operations in Bengaluru and is now present in cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.
“It is becoming increasingly evident that shared mobility platforms like Yulu will lead the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles in India,” Gupta said.
VCCircle has reached out to Yulu on the details of the fundraise and will update this report accordingly.
Early-stage venture capital firms Blume Ventures and 3one4 Capital are among the VC investors in the company while angel investors include Girish Mathrubootham, CEO at cloud-based customer engagement firm Freshdesk.
In November last year, Bajaj Auto Ltd invested $8 million (around Rs 57.1 crore) in Yulu Bikes. Bajaj Auto's rivals Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor have invested in electric scooter startup Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd and Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt. Ltd, respectively.
The biggest transaction in the larger e-mobility space last year involved a unit of ride-hailing firm Ola raising Rs 1,725 crore (around $250 million) from Japanese investor SoftBank in a Series B funding round at a valuation of around $1 billion. Ola Electric also mopped up Rs 400 crore in March from investors including New York-based Tiger Global Management and Matrix Partners.
