Electric vehicle (EV) startup Oben EV has raised $1.5 million (Rs 11 crore) in a Seed round of funding led by We Founder Circle, a founder-driven angel network, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The one-year-old startup is all set to launch its first product - the performance electric bike - in March next year. It plans to launch four new indigenous products over the next two years in various segments.
The Oben EV team will utilise the newly-raised capital to launch its products in the market, accelerate new product development, and expand its experience centres.
“We are very excited to raise the seed round, as this fund will help us enter the market with the first completely homegrown and indigenously developed performance motorcycle, and deliver our first set of vehicles to the customers in the next six months”, said Madhumita Agarwal, Co-founder, Oben EV.
Agarwal and her husband Dinkar Agarwal, both aliumnis of IIT-Kharagpur, floated the startup last year. Oben EV claims that its first made-in-India electric bike runs for 200 km on a single charge, clocking a top speed of 100 km per hour. It is said to have achieved over 16 patented innovations ranging across improving product performance, customer experience, and data analytics.
“I believe in supporting clean-energy startups with innovations like OBEN EV that will create a positive impact on many aspects - like mass mobility, clean environment, and overall conservation of the ecosystem. What we need today is a smooth shift to EV,” said Gaurav VK Singhvi, Co-founder at We Founder Circle.
Founded in 2020, Mumbai-based We Founder Circle is a global community of founders and angels that help early-stage startups, in which it claims to invest around $50000- $150000 (around Rs 37 lakh- Rs 1 crore).
In November, We Circle Founder applied for its first fund with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that seeks to raise Rs 200 crore (around $27 million).
Startups in this space are also raising funds. Charge+Zone, an EV-charging startup, last week has raised $10 million (around Rs 75 crore) in a bridge funding round.
Ola Electric is also gearing up to launch its electric scooter range S1 and S1 Pro markets in global markets by 2022.