Bike-taxi and auto aggregator Rapido has now entered the cab booking services category with the launch of Rapido Cabs. The Swiggy-backed startup said it already has a fleet of around 1 Lakh cabs on its platform and the service is currently operational across Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. 

Rapido is also targeting to expand its cab facilities across the country in the coming months, the company’s cofounder Pavan Guntupalli told media at the launch event.

The startup is banking on its zero-commission model to onboard drivers to its platform. It said that the drivers won’t be required to pay any commission from their rides to the platform – a burning issue among the cab drivers working with aggregators like Ola and Uber in the country.

Instead, Rapido cab drivers will have to pay a minimal subscription fee to stay on the platform.  “As an illustration, upon reaching earnings of INR 10,000 from the Rapido app, drivers will be subject to a modest subscription fee of INR 500,” the startup said in a statement.

On the customer end, Rapido claims to offer fares lower than its competitors. 

Users can avail the Rapido cab services from the platform’s app only. The startup is looking to leverage its vast bike-taxi user base to dent the duopoly of Ola and Uber in the cab-hailing market.

Currently, Rapido cab services are restricted to intra-city rides.

Founded in 2015 by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli, and Aravind Sanka, Rapido operates a platform that connects users with bike taxis. It also offers auto services and peer-to-peer delivery services via Rapido Local. It claims to have a fleet of 5 Mn bike-taxis and 7 Lakh auto-rickshaws. The startup claims to operate in over 100  Indian cities and have over 25 Mn app downloads.

To date, the startup has raised over $300 Mn across multiple rounds and counts TVS Motors, Nexus Venture Partners and WestBridge Capital among its investors. In April last year, the startup raised $180 Mn in a round led by Swiggy in participation with TVS Motors, WestBridge Capital, Nexus Ventures, and Shell Ventures, valuing it close to the $800 Mn mark. 

With the launch of cab services, Rapido now goes head-to-head against deep-pocketed Ola and Uber, and relatively new entrants like BluSmart.

On the growing competition, Gunutpalli said that Rapido will have the edge as the moment majority of cab drivers are disgruntled due to the heavy commission that they have to pay from their earnings and users are upset due to the high number of cancellations by drivers.

The post Swiggy-Backed Rapido Launches Cab Services To Take On Ola, Uber appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing giant Uber has introduced Uber Pro, a rewards programme for cab drivers. 

Drivers plying their vehicles in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Jaipur will be able to enroll in the programme.

Drivers in these cities will be eligible for Uber Pro if they have a customer rating of more than 4.8 and low trip cancellations. The move will enable Uber to curb ride cancellations by drivers and ensure a streamlined experience for end-users. 

Uber India and South Asia’s director of operations Shiva Shailendran said, “We are committed to providing a great ride experience for riders and drivers each time they choose Uber. Uber Pro rewards drivers who provide a great service to riders by maintaining a high app rating and low trip cancellations. It will go a long way in promoting the adaptation and continued use of the Uber platform by top-rated drivers.”

In a statement, the company said that Uber Pro has four tiers – blue, gold, platinum and diamond – with diamond being the highest possible tier. A new driver starts with a blue tier status and moves up by earning points on every completed trip and meeting other criteria.

The points reset every three months, so the drivers’ tier status is determined on a rolling period of three months. 

The ride-sharing giant also announced a slew of perks for diamond and platinum cab drivers, which include area preference, priority support, automatic Premier eligibility and discounts on periodic service maintenance. 

Drivers, across all tiers, will also be eligible to avail differential enhanced microcredit limits (up to INR 20,000, INR 15,000, INR 10,000, and INR 8,000 for diamond, platinum, gold, and blue tiers, respectively). All Uber Pro drivers are also eligible for discounted premiums for life, health, and motor insurance.

The clutch of offerings are likely part of Uber’s strategy to rein in ride cancellations and increase the stickiness of drivers to the platform. The initiative will also offer Uber’s drivers an avenue to pad their incomes as they grapple with rising aggregator commissions, diminishing per-ride margins and increasing fuel costs.

Owing to this, there has been a spurt in a myriad of issues such as ride cancellations, demands of cash payments, dirty cabs, among others, which, in turn, impacts user experience. The rewards initiative could very well be Uber’s answer to Ola Prime and the growing competition from Namma Yatri in Bengaluru – which charges drivers INR 25 per day for unlimited rides. 

Meanwhile, Uber continues to ramp up operations in the country. The company recently announced the launch of Uber Shuttle in Kolkata, a bus service for office goers in the city. Uber signed an agreement with the state transport department for the bus service during the Bengal Global Business Summit.

The ride-hailing giant added that it would invest $10 Mn (around INR 83 Cr) in West Bengal by 2025 and create around 50,000 livelihood opportunities over the next five years.

The post Uber Rolls Out Rewards Programme For Drivers To Rein In Ride Cancellations appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing major Uber on Wednesday (November 22) announced the launch of a bus shuttle service in Kolkata for office workers.

By March 2024, Uber Shuttle will have 60 air-conditioned buses on predefined routes, connecting business districts with residential areas of the city, the company said in a statement.

The ride-hailing giant added that it would invest $10 Mn (around INR 83 Cr) in West Bengal by 2025 and create around 50,000 livelihood opportunities over the next five years. Uber has signed an agreement with the state transport department for the bus service during the ongoing Bengal Global Business Summit.

Uber Shuttle is currently operational in Delhi NCR in India. It allows passengers to book seats up to a week in advance, track live location and route and receive real-time ETA, much like the company’s cab service. It also provides cashless payment options, round-the-clock safety support and a comfortable ride with air-conditioned buses running from 6 AM to 10 PM daily, it said. 

“This unique partnership will bring the convenience and reliability of Uber rides to buses, contributing to our global sustainability goal of increasing vehicle occupancy, reducing traffic congestion, and lowering carbon emissions,” said Shiva Shailendran, the director of operations at Uber India & South Asia.

“By providing commuters with more transport choices and creating livelihood opportunities for drivers, we are confident that this initiative will set us on a path of collective success,” he added.

Dr Saumitra Mohan, IAS, secretary of the transport department in the West Bengal government, added, “The government of West Bengal remains committed to improving public transport services and expanding available transport options to make commuting hassle-free. Our partnership with Uber is another step in this direction.”

Uber Shuttle will compete with the likes of Cityflo in India.

Uber, which is celebrating its 10th year in India, claims to have enabled 3 Bn+ rides in the country so far, along with providing 800K Indians with a sustainable income via driving for Uber. 

However, the company continues to perform poorly in terms of working conditions, with Fairwork India reporting earlier this year that Uber got 1 out of 10 points in terms of minimum standards of fair work provided by the employer.

The company has also been embroiled in several skirmishes in India – from a legal fight with Meru Cabs to issues related to bike taxis and the ban on entry of non-locally registered cabs in Delhi.

The post Uber To Launch Bus Shuttle Service For Office Goers In Kolkata appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With sustainability becoming one of the top priorities for countries and businesses alike, the narrative around increasing the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) has taken centre stage in the past few years. Though the electrification of vehicles started a bit late in India compared to some European countries, the US, China, and Japan, the country’s EV adoption has grown exponentially on the back of more startups joining the segment and government policies.

Many Indian EV startups such as Ather Energy, Altigreen, BluSmart, and Exponent Energy have now come up with sustainable solutions for mobility. The Indian EV market houses various small as well as large EV startups and is estimated to reach $15,397 Bn by 2027.

Indian EV startups offer services such as sustainable mobility, energy infrastructure, commercial mobility and battery management system, among others, to the general masses and enterprises. Besides, they are also helping reduce carbon emissions and offering a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

Let’s take a look at some of the Indian startups that are helping keep the earth healthy and green through their technology and products. The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. The Indian EV brands have been listed in alphabetical order.

Startups In The EV Segment 

1. 3EV Industries

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Peter Hartmut Voelkner, Suman K. Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Credence Family Office
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

3EV Industries was founded in association between RUGGED Solar Products Pvt Ltd and ReBatt Limited in 2019. It offers last-mile hyper-local connectivity to customers across India. 

In November 2021, 3EV Industries raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round from several family offices including Credence Family Office. The startup originally aligns with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ ambitions.

It manufactures vehicles across cargo and passenger segments, along with kits to convert conventional vehicles to electric. It aims to use renewable energy and off-grid power systems to optimise last-mile logistics. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Altigreen Propulsion Labs

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta 
• Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn 
• Investors: Reliance New Energy Limited, Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Altigreen offers last-mile transportation through two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler EVs for commercial use.

In February 2022, Altigreen raised INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The round saw participation from Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital.

The startup has a presence in 60 countries, along with 26 global patents. It had a turnover of INR 1.04  Cr in FY21 against INR 61.62 lakh in FY20.

______________________________________________________________________________________

3. AMO Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Sushant Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Noida

AMO Mobility is an MSME-registered and ICAT-certified electric mobility startup. It is also certified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

The original equipment manufacturer follows a business model for both B2C and B2B customers. Besides selling its electric two-wheelers through dealerships, AMO also has partnerships with OEMs, sub-dealerships, channel partners, and B2C partners to distribute its products. 

Some of its most noteworthy B2B partnerships include JustDial, Indiamart, the ecommerce platform of Paytm, and BikeDekho.

Recently, AMO Mobility signed a pact with EV-as-a -service platform, Trigo Electric, to provide its advanced electric mobility solutions to the company.

AMO Mobility has a range of escooter models, including Jaunty, Feisty, and Inspirer. Its customer base comprises corporates, ecommerce players, and CSR segments.

______________________________________________________________________________________

4. Ather Energy

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $400 Mn+
• Investors: Hero Motocorp, Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, NIIF Limited
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ather Energy offers sustainable mobility and energy infrastructure solutions. It manufactures two-wheeler electric vehicles, 450X and 450 Plus, that are sold on its website and offline retail stores. 

In May, Ather secured $128 Mn in its Series E funding round from sovereign fund NIIF Limited and existing investor Hero MotoCorp. With this round, it also closed its Series E round. In September 2023, it raised INR 900 Cr from existing shareholders Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue.

The startup claims to have installed more than 1,000 charging stations across 80 cities in India. It aims to have around 2,500+ charging stations by the end of 2023.

It was earlier reported that the EV startup had set up its second manufacturing plant in Hosur to meet the demand for electric scooters. In October 2021, its annual revenue rate (ARR) rose by 12X to $100 Mn.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Baaz Bikes

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena, Shubham Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Kalaari Capital, AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, Sumant Sinha
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Baaz Bikes, a subsidiary of ElecTorq Technologies, offers micro-mobility solutions to gig workers. It helps gig workers earn money by using its electric scooters for deliveries for companies such as Zomato, Amazon and Grofers.

Baaz Bikes raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital along with the participation of AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns and Renew Power’s Sumant Sinha.

The EV startup’s scooters can cover a distance of 60 km on a single charge. It also has built battery swapping infrastructure in India. It claims that its swapping infrastructure is live in two zones in Delhi.

As per its website, its tech stack includes Baaz, Baaz Swap, Baazigar Platform and Baaz VU.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Battery Smart

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka
• Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Niraj Singh, Amit Bhasin  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Battery Smart allows customers to swap their EV batteries at its stations, called Swap Stations. It currently offers its services to e-rickshaw owners. 

Battery Smart claims to operate more than 850 Swap Stations across Delhi-NCR and says it has completed more than 220 lakh battery swaps. Currently, it has 35,000 active vehicles on its platform and makes 80,000 swaps on a daily basis as of November 2023.

In November 2021, Battery Smart raised $7 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures. The round saw participation from investors including Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, and angel investors such as Bluestone’s Srinivas Anumolu, and GrowthStory.in’s K Ganesh, Spinny’s Niraj Singh and GoMechanic’s Amit Bhasin.

Prior to this, Battery Smart raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a seed funding round from Orios Venture Partners in February 2021. The startup has further raised $25 Mn in its Series A round in June 2022 led by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures and two debt rounds from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil.

In its pre-series B funding round in July of 2023, Battery Smart raised $33 Mn led by investors Tiger Global and Blume Ventures, with participation from the Ecosystem Integrity Fund and British International Investment.

Battery Smart claims to have live swap stations across 27 cities and it works with 35,500 vehicles.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

7. BGauss

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Hemant Kabra
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Darshan Patel
• Headquarters:  Mumbai

BGauss, which is promoted by RR Global, offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup manufactures two EVs – BGauss B8 and BGauss A2 – which are sold on its website as well as in offline stores. It is currently expanding its product portfolio by launching two new EV scooters in 2022. 

According to an Inc42 report, BGauss’ new EV scooter D15 will be launched in May 2022, while the other scooter will be launched later this year. The startup claims that these scooters will be 100% ‘Made in India’ at its production facility located in Chakan near Pune.

Recently, the EV startup got $7 Mn in funding from Vini Cosmetics’ Darshan Patel to expand retail and manufacturing capacity in India, perform R&D and develop in-house products across various EV components. It claims to have 100 dealer networks across India and is planning to enter Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by the end of 2022. It is further looking to scale up operations and focus on the export market.

As per its website, it has a presence in more than 85 countries. It also has 13 manufacturing facilities and over 25K retail stores. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

8. BluSmart 

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal
• Funding Raised To Date: $67 Mn
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, UCIC, BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Suvan Partners,  Mumbai Angels, Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts
• Headquarters: Gurugram

BluSmart offers electric ride-hailing mobility services through its mobile-based app. It primarily provides sustainable mobility solutions to urban customers.

In May, BluSmart secured $25 Mn through equity and debt financing in its Series A funding round. Investors who participated in the round include BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil and UCIC.

Recently, it started intercity EV services from Delhi NCR to Jaipur and Chandigarh. It has also scaled EV services at Delhi IGI Airport. It is currently looking to expand its EV charging hubs across Delhi NCR and expand its fleet to over 5,000. 

______________________________________________________________________________________

9. BOLT

• Founded: 2017
• Founders: Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn 
• Investors: ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, SUN Mobility, Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

BOLT, previously known as REVOS, is an AI-based IoT platform that helps people operate EVs. It essentially tracks and monitors motor controllers as well as batteries on the platform. 

In September 2021, BOLT raised $4 Mn in its Series A round led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and Prime Venture Partners. It claims to have sold about 1,000 devices, including EVs and chargers in 30 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), across India, China, Nepal, Egypt and Vietnam to date. The startup claims it has installed 10,000 EV charging stations in India in the past six months. 

BOLT is reportedly aiming to deploy 100K charging stations in the coming six months to meet the demand in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandigarh, Surat, and Bhubaneswar, among others.

Recently, BOLT also partnered with the Delhi Capitals cricket team for the IPL.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Cell Propulsion

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal, Supratim Naskar
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn
• Investors: growX ventures, Micelio, Endiya Partners, CIIE.CO, Sangam Ventures
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Cell Propulsion offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup develops high-voltage powertrains technology for commercial vehicle applications. Besides this, it manufactures electric commercial vehicles – Oryx Electric and Beluga Electric. While Oryx Electric is available for sale, Beluga Electric has not been officially launched yet by the startup. 

As per its website, GrowX Ventures, Endiya, Micelio and CIIE.CO and Sangam Ventures are among its investors. It has covered over 200K emission-free distance and onboarded five fleets to date. It is currently managing over 10 fast-charging stations.

In 2021, it reportedly secured $2 Mn of funding from a cohort of private equity investors including Endiya Partners, GrowX Ventures, Huddle Accelerator and Micelio. Prior to this, it raised $1 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round in September 2020. 

In 2019, it was also a part of Huddle and growX Ventures’ EV accelerator program.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

11. CHARGE+ZONE

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Kartikey Hariyani and Pavan Bakeri
• Funding Raised To Date: $17 Mn
• Investors: Venture Catalysts, Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Ramakrishnan Family Office
• Headquarters: Gujarat

CHARGE+ZONE offers an OEM charging network through its app-based charging stations. Its app provides an array of services to EV drivers, such as finding charging points, and booking them in advance. 

In December 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $10 Mn in a bridge funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Prior to this, it raised $4 Mn in the same round. CHARGE+ZONE currently aims to raise another $50 Mn in a Series A funding round in 2022. 

In November 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $3 Mn in a Pre-Series funding A round led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Ramakrishnan Family Office. Earlier in May 2021, it raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels. 

CHARGE+ZONE is reported to have started the distribution of AC-Type2 EV charging networks and intercity fast DC charging networks for 1,500 new points over the next 150 days.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

12. Chargeup

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.5 Mn
• Investors:  Capital A, Anicut Capital, MapmyIndia,  Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Chargeup offers battery swapping services for three-wheeler EVs in India. 

In February 2022, Chargeup reportedly raised $2.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Capital A and Anicut Capita. 

The round also saw participation from angel investors including boAt’s Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor. The startup claims to have expanded to 100 stations and onboarded 800 drivers on its platform. It further says that it has 100 dealers working with the platform.

As per its website, Chargeup has an AI and ML-based platform that provides services such as subscription-based usage, delivers 5,000 MwHr, forecasts demand hotspots, predicts energy demand, and operates 10K charging stations. The startup claims to have 800 satisfied users and 100 dealers associated with it. It also aims to power 1 Mn EVs by 2027.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Corrit Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Mayur Misra
• Funding Raised To Date: $9 Mn 
• Investors: SphitiCap
• Headquarters: Noida

Corrit Electric offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers and B2B customers. It sells three electric bikes – Hover 1.0, Hover 2.0 and Hover 2.0+. The company has recently launched an electric bike, Transit, for B2B deliveries. It has a top speed of 70 kmph and payload capacity of 200 Kg. 

In November 2022, it secured $9 Mn in funding from venture capital fund SphitiCap to ramp up its production facility and manufacture electric bikes to resolve issues related to last-mile connectivity.

Earlier, it had shared plans to build 1.5 Lakh electric bikes in the next three years.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

14. ElectricPe

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Avinash Sharma, Raghav Rohila
• Funding Raised To Date: $8 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Micelio Fund, Anshuman Bapna, Anupam Mittal, Arjun Ravi Sheth, Ashish Goel, Bhuvan Gupta, Green Frontier Capital, NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus, and Climate Angels
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

ElectricPe offers charging infrastructure to customers. Through its app, EV owners can locate charging stations near them.

In November 2021, ElectricPe raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund. The round saw participation from Terra.do’s Anshuman Bapna, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Anchorage Capital’s Arjun Ravi Sheth, Urban Ladder’s Ashish Goel, and OfBusiness’ Bhuvan Gupta, among others.

Recently, Hero Electric partnered with ElectricPe to set up charging points pan-India for its customers. The charging infrastructure would be built in residential complexes, offices, malls, and other establishments. The partnership aims to strengthen the charging network and support EV adoption across India.

Prior to this, NoBroker had also partnered with ElectricPe to set up 1 Lakh electric charging stations in residential communities across India in 2022.

In January 2022, ElectricPe raised $5 Mn in its pre-series A round led by Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund, with participation from NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus and Climate Angels.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Emflux Motors 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Ankit Khatry, Varun Mittal, Vinay Raj Somashekar
• Funding Raised To Date: $648K
• Investors: Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Nitish Singh and Risabh Gupta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Emflux Motors offers sustainable mobility solutions and other tech solutions for EVs. It sells an electronic bike Emflux One that has a maximum speed of 200 kmph and can cover up to 200 km on a single charge. Besides this, it sells technology stack such as battery management system, motors, motor controller, charger circuit, EVSE, master controller, and battery pack. 

In 2017, Emflux Motors raised $648K in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Jugnoo’s Nitish Singh, and Risabh Gupta.

The EV startup aims to create 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs in India by 2027. It primarily focuses on building brand and loyalty by creating high-performance electric vehicles.  It also plans to build an ecosystem of partner OEMs and become their tech and component supplier. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

16. EMO Energy

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sheetanshu Tyagi and Rahul Patel
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.5 Mn
• Investors: Transition VC, Gruhas
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

With its integrated tech stack for two- and three-wheeler EVs and heavy-duty vehicles, deeptech startup EMO Energy is addressing two challenges adversely affecting EV adoption in India – safety and charging efficiency. 

The startup calls its technology platform ZEN, which comes with different applications such as ZEN PAC (swappable battery packs for two- and three-wheelers), ZEN Ctrl. (battery management system and connected software), ZEN Rig (battery packs for heavy-duty vehicles), and ZEN Wall (fully integrated battery inverter system for residential and light commercial use).

EMO Energy has successfully conducted pilot programmes with nearly 10 electric vehicle (EV) companies in the country, deploying approximately 100 batteries to date. The startup is rapidly expanding its network of partnerships. While most of its offerings are still in the pilot phase, EMO Energy has already started generating revenue by selling its battery packs, ranging from 2 kWh to 3 kWh, for two- and three-wheelers.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

17. EMotorad

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Rajib Gangopadhyay, Kunal Gupta, Aditya Oza, Sumedh Battewar
• Funding Raised To Date: $5.9 Mn
• Investor: Basant Lohia from TaraSafe, Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates
• Headquarters: Pune
• EMotorad sells electric cycles for daily commuting and casual rides. The startup uses local sourcing and manufacturing facilities in India to build electric cycles.

In October, the Pune-based startup secured $2.9 Mn (INR 24 Cr) in its Pre-Series A funding round. During that time, it asserted that it sold more than 16K electric cycles in India since its inception

It raised $3 Mn in its seed funding round in late 2021. Its cap table includes Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates and Basant Lohia from TaraSafe.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

18. ETrio 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Sathya Yalamanchili, Deepak M V 
• Funding Raised To Date: $3 Mn
• Investor: Janardhan Rao
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

Etrio offers commercial and non-commercial electricity mobility solutions. Its product portfolio includes electric kits, retrofitted electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), a three-wheeler EV named Touro, and two bicycles – Ashva and iSwitch. eLCVs have been launched to transform and electrify the logistics segment, while bicycles were launched to meet the demands of cargo and personal segments. 

In 2020, ETrio raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Triumph Global’s Janardhan Rao. The round saw participation from a cohort of Singapore-based HNIs. 

As per its website, ETrio has partnered with various companies including Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, DIAGEO, Lightning Logistics, Amplus Solar, and ZYPP Electric. 

It has also received certifications from various government bodies such as ARAI, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, among others. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

19. Euler Motors

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders:  Saurav Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date:  $100 Mn+ 
• Investors: Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures, Andrew Lee, Inventus India, Jetty Ventures, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Sujeet Kumar, QRG Investments and Holdings, ADB Ventures,
• Headquarters: New Delhi 

Euler Motors offers commercial electrical mobility solutions through three-wheeler EVs, energy infrastructure, app and web-based software solutions. Its three-wheeler EV, Euler HiLoad, has the capacity to hold up to 688 Kg. The company claims it can get charged in 15 minutes and cover a distance of 151 Km on a single charge.

In the charging infra, the EV startup offers three types of chargers – Flash2, onboard charger, and Charge on Wheels. In the software segment, its app provides an array of services such as real-time GPS tracking, learning analytics, geo-fencing, and battery temperature, among others. 

In October 2022, Euler Motors raised about $60 Mn in its Series C round led by Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC. In November 2023, the startup raised about $14.4 Mn in its ongoing Series C extension round from British International Investment (BII) and Green Frontier Capital.  Existing investors, including ADB Ventures, Blume Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Alteria Capital, GIC Singapore, and QRG Holdings, also participated in the round.

It claims to have supplied more than 250 three-wheeler EVs to various companies including Ecom Express, BigBasket and Udaan.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

20. EVage

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Inderveer Singh, Pulkit Srivastava, Harnoor Kaur
• Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
• Investors: RedBlue Capital
• Headquarters: Chandigarh

EVage offers commercial solutions for sustainable mobility. It plans to supply electric commercial vehicles to the delivery fleets of logistics companies. 

Recently, Evage raised $28 Mn in a seed funding round from RedBlue Capital. Its first model, X, is a one-tonne truck built for the commercial delivery market.

The startup claims to be the supplier to Amazon India’s delivery partners. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

21. Evera

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Nimish Trivedi, Vikas Bansal, Rajeev Tiwari
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Westova Capital, Devonshire Capital, IEG – Investment Banking Group
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Evera is a New Delhi-based electric cab services provider that operates in both B2B and B2C verticals. Founded in 2019, the startup claims to have taken more than 40,000 rides, with a network of 43 charging stations in the national capital region. Its parent entity is Prakriti E-Mobility.

Unlike many ride-hailing companies, Evera employs full-time drivers rather than working with gig workers. The startup says the drivers can’t cancel rides since they’re paid by the startup.

In early 2023, Evera raised $7 Mn in multiple tranches as part of its Pre-Series A funding round, led by IEG Investment Banking Group, Direct Capital, and Westova Global.

Evera competes directly with BluSmart, which raised $42 Mn in May 2023.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

22. Exponent Energy

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Arun Vinayak, Sanjay Byalal
• Funding Raised To Date: $18 Mn 
• Investors: YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Motherson Group, Rajesh Yabaji, Pushkar Singh
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Exponent Energy offers energy solutions to EV owners. The startup claims that its lithium-ion battery and charger combo can charge EVs up to 100% within 15 minutes.  

In December 2021, the EV startup raised $5 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by existing investor YourNest VC. The round saw participation from other investors including 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and Motherson Group. 

As per an Inc42 report, it also raised an undisclosed investment in September 2021 from investors including YourNest, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge, BlackBuck’s Rajesh Yabaji, and LetsTransport’s Pushkar Singh among others.

Before launching Exponent Energy, its cofounder Arun Vinayak worked with Ather Energy for seven years, while the other cofounder Sanjay Byalal had earlier worked with Ather Energy as well as HUL.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

23. Fresh Bus

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sudhakar Reddy Chirra
• Funding Raised To Date: ~$3 Mn
• Investors: ixigo, Kunal Shah, Sudarshan Venu, Deepak Garg
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded by former AbhiBus founder Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Fresh Bus is an electric bus (ebus) platform that operates in the intercity bus travel market.

The startup, backed by traveltech major ixigo, launched its ebus service in early 2023 by unveiling its first route between Bengaluru and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, the bus service is also functional on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada route while the startup plans to start its intercity ebus service on newer routes like Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, and Goa-Pune.

Fleet operator Fresh Bus has collaborated with EV manufacturer Olectra to procure its buses. 

In the growing ebus market, Fresh Bus competes with NueGo, Zingbus, and other major intercity bus platforms in the market. The startup has also built its own charging station network.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

24. Fyn Mobility

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Visakh Sasikumar
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.4 Mn 
• Investors: Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, Sattva Group, Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication, Conscience Multi-Family Office, GAIL (India) Ltd,  Arshad Sayyad, Vijay Ratnaparke, Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Fyn Mobility, which was earlier known as Pi Beam, offers micro-mobility EV solutions and data analytics services for the EV ecosystem. Its product portfolio includes PIMO Utility two-wheeler, E-Trike, E-Kart, and E-Auto.  

In March 2022, Fyn reportedly raised $1.7 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. 

The round saw participation from investors including Sattva Group and Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication and Conscience Multi-Family Office, and angel investors Fidelity Investments’ Arshad Sayyad, Robert Bosch’s Vijay Ratnaparke, Royal Enfield’s Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.

Prior to this, the EV startup raised $705K in a bridge funding round from GAIL (India) Ltd. Currently, it has a presence in Bengaluru and Chennai. It plans to add 2,000 EVs by FY23. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

25. goEgoNetwork

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Sayantan Chakraborti, Dheeman Kadam, Pravin Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Olivier Guillaumond, Rishi Bagla
• Headquarters: Pune

goEgoNetwork offers energy solutions to customers. With its goME app, EV owners can locate the nearest charging stations and use them. 

In August 2021, goEgoNetwork raised $2 Mn (nearly INR 15 Cr) in seed funding to expand its existing electric charging network. The round saw participation from Bagla Group’s Rishi Bagla and Global Innovation Labs’ Olivier Guillaumond.

In 2021, goEgoNetwork is reported to have partnered with TVS Motor to promote EV infra in Himachal Pradesh. Following this, it set up an EV charging facility at Kaza in Spiti Valley to cater to the needs of EV scooters and cars in the region.

The EV startup has got certifications from various government bodies including ARAI and OCA.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

26. Grinntech 

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Nikhilesh Mishra, Puneet Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn  
• Investors: V Sumantran, Lakshmi Narayan, KS Manian
• Headquarters: Chennai

Grinntech offers energy storage solutions to customers. It claims to provide an array of lithium-ion batteries such as IC Engine starter batteries, e-cycle and robotics batteries, two-wheeler batteries, three-wheeler batteries, small commercial vehicle batteries, light commercial vehicle batteries, and MHCV batteries, among others.

In 2020, Grinntech raised $2 Mn in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from investors including Ashok Leyland’s V Sumantran, Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayan, and NAPC’s KS Manian. During the same year, the startup also graduated from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

In 2020, Grinntech inked an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government involving an investment of INR 100 Cr. In the following year, it established a manufacturing facility in Chennai that can meet the demand of up to 400 MWh.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

27. Kabira Mobility

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Jaibir Siwach, Akash Siwach, and Sagar Siwach
• Funding Raised To Date: $52 Mn
• Investors: Al-Abdulla Group, Classic Group
• Headquarters: Goa

Kabira Mobility is a Goa-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, which started a fledged sales of its ebikes in April 2022. It targets young bike enthusiasts. 

The startup has so far launched two models of its flagship bikes – KM3000 and KM4000. While its KM3000 bike model comes with a 4.14 kWh battery capacity and a range of 120 km per charge, the KM4000 model has a battery capacity of 4.60 kWh and offers a range of 150 km. 

Kabira Mobility also has plans to launch pro variants of its KM3000 and KM4000 models this year. Next year, the ebike startup is expected to launch a new model – KM5000 – in the cruiser bike category.

Earlier this year, the startup raised $50 Mn (around INR 412 Cr) in its Series A funding round Qatar-based Al-Abdulla Group, taking its total funding received to INR 430 Cr.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

28. Kazam EV

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi
• Funding Raised To Date: $4.53 Mn
• Investors: Inflection Point Ventures, We Founder Circle 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Kazam EV offers software solutions for energy infrastructure. Besides aligning with its own charging stations, the startup’s software supports charging stations of other EV companies as well. It additionally helps micro-entrepreneurs earn money by setting up charging stations in their parking areas. 

In 2021, Kazam raised INR 7 Cr ($0.93 Mn) in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Besides, it raised an undisclosed amount of investment from We Founder Circle. Earlier in May 2023, the startup picked up $3.6 Mn in a round led by Avaana Climate Fund.

As per its website, Kazam has set up over 7,000 charging stations in India. It has a presence in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Its products are essentially utilised by EV OEMs, EV fleet operators and micro-entrepreneurs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

29. Lithium Urban Technologies

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Sanjay Krishnan
• Funding Raised To Date: $58 Mn
• Investors: IFC, EverSource Capital 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Lithium Urban offers sustainability solutions and charging infrastructure to business organisations. The startup essentially offers transport service through its fleet of EVs and associated charging stations.

As per its website, the startup is certified by ISO for implementing guidance on social responsibility. It presently has a fleet size of 2,000 vehicles and operates in over 15 cities, including Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. 

Through its tech stack, the startup claims to deliver 2X productivity, reduce carbon footprint and cut down transportation costs by 40%. As per Tofler, its revenue from operations stood at INR 53.6 Cr in FY20 as against INR 41.8 Cr in FY19. However, its loss widened to INR 21.1 Cr in FY20 as compared to INR 15.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

A few days ago, it reportedly partnered with Tata Motors to deploy 5000 XPRES T Electric Sedans across India for employee transportation.

In March 2022, EverSource Capital, which manages India’s largest climate impact funds, acquired a majority stake in the startup for about $50 Mn. Prior to this, the startup raised $8 Mn from World Bank’s investment arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), as an equity investor. It raised additional capital from other investors as well. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

30. Lohum

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rajat Verma, Justin Lemmon, Gazanfar Safvi
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+
• Investors: Baring Private Equity Partners, Talbros Automotive Components, Stride Ventures
• Headquarters: Noida

Lohum is a producer of lithium-ion battery raw materials, which it achieves by recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining.

Working in a closed-loop recycling model, Lohum acquires used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, stationary storage, and consumer electronics. These batteries are then tested and, if deemed reusable, they are given a second life. If the batteries reach their end-of-life, Lohum recycles the battery materials and sells the resulting metals and chemicals to various customers across the supply chain.

Since its inception, the startup has raised over $20 Mn in funding. Lohum recently said that it has collaborated with insurtech unicorn ACKO to optimise the battery insurance and financing costs for the customers.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

31. Magenta Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Maxson Lewis
• Funding Raised To Date: $35 Mn
• Investors: bp Ventures, Morgan Stanley India, JITO Angel Network
• Headquarters: Mumbai

From being a solution provider in the EV charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility has pivoted to becoming an end-to-end integrated emobility solution provider. 

Currently, it operates over 1,550 electric three-wheelers in the L5 category for last-mile delivery, which it is planning to expand to more than 3,000 vehicles by the end of FY24. Magenta Mobility runs its cargo delivery and logistics services in nine cities, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Pune Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. The startup is not a manufacturer and sources its three-wheeler EVs from Piaggio, Altigreen Propulsion Labs, Euler Motors, and Mahindra.

In its charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility manages 39 charging depots to cater to the charging needs of its EV fleet.

Besides, it also develops software technology to enable this entire emobility ecosystem.

In April 2023, Magenta Mobility raised $22 Mn (about INR 180.6 Cr) in its Series A1 funding round from bp Ventures and Morgan Stanley India infrastructure.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

32. Matter

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli, and Saran Babu
• Funding Raised To Date: $100 Mn
• Investors:  Info Edge’s Capital 2B Fund 1, Climate Angel Fund
• Headquarters: Ahmedabad

Founded in 2019 by Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli and Saran Babu, Matter is an electric mobility and energy storage-focussed startup. 

The startup boasts a fully functional electric motorcycle AERA, which it launched earlier this year. The ebike has two variants – AERA 5000 and AERA 5000+ – which come with a range of up to 125 km.  

Not just this, Matter, last year, also unveiled what it claims is the country’s first active liquid-cooled two-wheeler EV battery MatterEnergy 1.0. It also closed a $10 Mn in an initial funding round in 2022, having raised nearly $100 Mn in funding since inception.

Further, Matter plans to raise around $200 Mn by 2025 as it looks to establish a new factory for the production of its EVs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

33. Metastable Materials

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Shubham Vishvakarma, Saurav Goyal, Manikumar Uppala
• Funding Raised To Date: Undisclosed 
• Investors: Sequoia Capital’s Surge,  Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures, Akshay Singhal, Sanjeev Rangrass
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Metastable Materials has developed a one-of-its-kind mechanism, a chemical-free integrated carbothermal reduction process, for extracting and recycling materials from lithium-ion batteries in a more economical and efficient manner. 

The startup was part of the eighth cohort of Sequoia’s Surge accelerator program.

In April 2023, the cleantech startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Seed round from Sequoia Capital’s Surge and other venture capitalists like Speciale Invest and Theia Ventures. 

Metastable Materials is now setting up a 21,000 sq ft battery recycling facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

34. MoEVing

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Mragank Jain, Vikash Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date:  $10 Mn 
• Investors:  D.S. Brar, Anshuman Maheshwary, Srihari Raju Kalidindi, Ashish Goel, Krishnadeva Veerareddy, BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain
• Headquarters: Gurugram

MoEVing offers intra-city last-mile delivery solutions, energy infrastructure and fintech solutions. It provides delivery services to companies operating in ecommerce, e-grocery, FMCG, logistics and D2C. Besides, it also works along with OEMs, drivers and financial institutions to address the problems of EV owners when they adopt EVs.

In May, the EV startup secured $5 Mn through equity and debt financing in its ongoing seed funding round. Investors like BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain from Nazara Technologies participated in the round. 

MoEving has a presence in 10 cities in India including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. It aims to add 10,000 EVs and 100 charging hubs in 30 cities by 2023. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

35. Motovolt Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Tushar Choudhary 
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.9 Mn 
• Investors: Wami Capital, PPAP Automotive, Vikrampati Singhania, Ankur Agarwal, Vikas Bagaria
• Headquarters: Kolkata

Motovolt offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers. Some of its electric bikes are URBN e-Bike, Kivo Easy, Ice, and Kivo 24. 

Recently, the startup also launched an electric bike called URBN for its consumers. The new electric bike has removable twin batteries, weighing about 10 kg each.

In November last year, it bagged $1.9 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Wami Capital. Earlier, it had shared plans to invest INR 200 Cr into its business (in 2023) to enhance product offerings and expand its facility as well as sales network. It claims to have more than 100 POS across the country.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

36. Oben Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Madhumita Agrawal, Dinkar Agarwal, and Sagar Thakkar
• Funding Raised To Date: $10.7 Mn
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Mumbai Angels, We Founder Circle
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Currently, the electric two-wheeler market is predominantly dominated by escooter manufacturers. However, the electric motorcycle sector is relatively limited, with only a few companies operating in this space.

Oben Electric is one of those few startups that are manufacturing electric bikes to make a major shift in a market ruled by the stalwarts like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, and Eicher Motors.

Its flagship electric motorcycle Oben Rorr comes with a top speed of 100 km per hour and a 4.4 kWh battery capacity that can fully charge in two hours.

In the electric motorcycle manufacturing space, Oben Electric currently competes with Revolt Motors, Ultraviolette, Matter, Odysse, Hop Electric, Kabira Mobility, and Orxa Energies.

The startup has raised around $10.7 Mn (over 88 Cr) in total funding so far. In its extended Pre-Series A funding round, it raised $4.88 Mn (INR 72 Cr) in June 2023.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

37. Odysse Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nemin Vora
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Electric mobility startup Odysse is a part of the Vora group of companies that has a vast line of businesses with a primary focus on automobile-based products. As a two-wheeler EV manufacturer, Odysse makes both electric scooters and motorcycles.

In the motorcycle category, the startup has two models – Evoqis and Vader. In the escooter category, Odysse’s main two-wheeler models are E2go, Hawk, and V2.

Odysse also manufactures a last-mile delivery escooter electric scooter, TROT.

Hence, the startup competes with the major players across the EV two-wheeler market, including Revolt, Oben Electric, Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Hero Electric as well as the likes of Yulu.

The company has set up its EV manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In July 2023, Odysse announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart to help customers pre-book and purchase Odysse’s EVs more seamlessly from the marketplace.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

38. Ohm Mobility

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nikhil Nair
• Funding Raised To Date: $400K
• Investors: Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, Catalyst Fund, Kunal Shah
• Headquarters: Bangalore

Ohm Mobility is an end-to-end EV-focussed financing platform, which aims to help EV players to get easier access to institutional capital while enabling lenders to discover, verify, and deploy capital to EV companies. It is building a technology platform to connect EV buyers with capital providers.

In May 2023, Ohm Mobility raised INR 3 Cr in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler India. The funding round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and angels like Sagar Gubbi, Anshuman Bapna Mathew Chako, and Karishma Menon.

Its current client portfolio includes Race Energy, Eveez, and Hala Mobility, among others. The startup competes with the likes of Vidyut and Turno in the space.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

39. Okinawa Autotech

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Jeetender Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Okinawa offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup offers EV vehicles–RIDGE+, PRAISE PRO, IPRAISE+, R30, Okinawa R30 and LITE. Its high-speed scooters hold various features such as detachable batteries, fast charging, central locking, app connectivity, etc. Its EV vehicles are priced at INR 50K-INR 1.14 Lakh.

As per LinkedIn, it has over 350 dealerships across India so far. It has received a FAME II subsidy from the Indian government and also, got IATD certification for design and manufacturing. It also partnered with the Indian Navy, Delhi Transport Corporation and Tirupati Smart City.

It claims to have sold more than 1 lakh EV scooters since its inception. It has two manufacturing plants in Rajasthan; one plant with a capacity of more than 1 lakh units is in Bhiwandi while the other with 0.5 Mn units is in Alwar. 

Since It’s a bootstrapped venture, the startup has not got external financing so far. However, it is reportedly looking at raising INR 400-INR 500 Cr from American and European private equity players.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

40. Ola Electric 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $1 Bn  
• Investors: Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, Tiger Global and Matrix India, SoftBank, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Bank of Baroda, Falcon Edge, IIFL PE, Cars 24, Moglix, Dealshare, VSS Investco, Pawan Munjal, Ratan Tata, Rahul Mehta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola Electric offers two-wheelers EVs and energy infrastructure. Founded in 2017, the EV startup manufacturing facility, Ola Future Factory, has a production capacity of 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs per annum and deploys over 3000 robots. 

Recently, Ola Electric was also selected for receiving incentives from the Indian government under the $2.4 Bn PLI scheme to manufacture advanced chemistry cell batteries. A few days later, it also invested in Israel-based battery technology company StoreDot to have access to its XFC battery technology that charges batteries in five minutes. 

In January 2022, Ola Electric had completed its $200 Mn Series C funding round at a valuation of $5 Bn. The round saw participation from investors including Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, and Edelweiss, among others. In October 2023, the company announced closing a $384 Mn funding round in a mix of equity and debt led by Temasek and the State Bank of India.  

Ola Electric, which is currently leading the electric two-wheeler market, is now preparing to get listed on the bourses in 2024.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

41. Pure EV 

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Rohit Vadera, Nishanth Dongari
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: VC Nannapaneni
• Headquarters: Telangana

PURE offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy storage systems. It manufactures Lithium batteries and five EVs including eTryst 350, epluto, epluto7G, ETranceNEO and ETrance+.   

Its electric bike, eTryst 350 is powered by 4.0 KW peak and 3.0 KW nominal motors. The EV bike’s top speed is 85 kmph and has a load capacity of 160 kg. The epluto scooter is powered with 250 Watt brushless hub motor, and has a top speed of 25 kmph. The epluto7G is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. 

The ETranceNEO scooter is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. It has a loading capacity of 150 kg. The ETrance+ is powered by a 250-watt motor and has a top speed of 25 kmph.

The startup graduated from IIT Hyderabad. In 2019, it reportedly secured an undisclosed amount of funding from VC Nannapaneni, chairman and managing director of Natco Pharma, at a valuation of $35 Mn.  

______________________________________________________________________________________________

42. RACE Energy 

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Arun Sreyas, Gautham M
• Funding Raised To Date: $6 Mn
• Investors:  Huddle, Prophetic Ventures, Micelio, growX Ventures
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

RACE Energy builds retrofit kits for transforming conventional three-wheeler vehicles into EVs. It also provides energy infrastructure via its battery-swapping stations.

The startup raised $1.3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures in 2021. The round saw participation from Huddle, Prophetic Ventures and BITSian Angels, among others. 

The capital, raised from the round, was infused in research and development (R&D), enhancing the startup’s swapping technology and infrastructure. Prior to this, it raised $500K in a seed funding round from growX ventures, Prophetic Ventures and some angel investors.

The company raised $3 Mn in a pre-series A round led by growx Ventures with participation from Micelio Mobility, Huddle and other angel investors in 2023. The funds will be used for market expansion and for building a new facility.

It aims to set up an extensive battery-swapping network in India and foray into other continents by ​2023.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

43. Revfin

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Sameer Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $15.4 Mn
• Investors: DFC, Lets Venture, Dheeraj Jain, Dheeraj Jain
• Headquarters: Delhi

Revfin is a Delhi-based startup that is trying to make EV financing easier. It provides loans for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and other small EVs.

The startup is focussed on helping individual drivers in Tier II and III towns get loans for commercial EVs. It largely provides financing for passenger transportation, ecommerce, and cargo delivery EVs.

Revfin has its own NBFC to issue loans. In June 2023, the startup raised $5 Mn in debt from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Revfin claims to be witnessing almost 4X year-on-year growth in its loan book currently.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

44. Revolt Motors 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rahul Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+ (approx)
• Investors: RattanIndia Group
• Headquarters: Haryana

Revolt offers sustainable mobility solutions across India. The startup manufactures AI-enabled EV bikes – RV 400 and RV 300. Its EV bikes are equipped with onboard charging and portable charging features. The RV 400 has a 3.24 kWh lithium battery while RV 300 has a 2.7 kWh lithium battery. 

The startup also offers app-based battery swapping stations named Revolt Switch Stations where EV bike owners can exchange their batteries for a charged one. It has retail stores in multiple cities of India, including Jaipur, Surat, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Kochi and Hubli. 

In April 2021, it secured INR 150 Cr (around $20.12 Mn at then exchange rates) from RattanIndia Group to expand its footprint in India and the South Asian market. With this investment, RattanIndia acquired a 43% stake in the Haryana-based EV startup, while Rajiv Rattan, chairman of RattanIndia Enterprises, joined its board as a non-executive chairman.

Earlier this year, RattanIndia acquired Revolt entirely, making it a wholly-owned subsidy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

45. River

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Aravind Mani and Vipin George
• Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
• Investors: Al Futtaim Group, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures, Maniv Mobility
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

River is an electric two-wheeler manufacturer that launched its first escooter model India in February this year. The startup ran operations in stealth mode for the last two years while working on its product development and R&D.

River’s Indie comes with a motor that has a peak power of 6.7 kW and can reach a top speed of 90 km per hour. The current vehicle model has a 4 kWh battery with a range of 120 km. 

River throws direct competition to the escooter majors like Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, Pure EV, and others.

In June, River raised $15 Mn (INR 124 Cr) and is looking to start its vehicle delivery in August this year. So far, the startup has raised $28 Mn in three funding rounds.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

46. SmartE 

• Founded In: 2015 
• Founders: Goldie Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $18.3 Mn 
• Investors: Mitsui and Co, Ecotransit Investments International, Shell Foundation
• Headquarters: Delhi

SmartE offers last-mile connectivity to commuters. The startup operates a fleet of electric vehicles in more than 10 cities in India, including Faridabad, Noida, Gurugram, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. 

In January 2022, SmartE along with Revfin, an EV-focused lending startup, got an undisclosed amount of investment from the Shell Foundation to extend new loans to three-wheelers EVs on its platform. In July 2019, it raised INR 100 Cr in a Series B funding round from Mitsui and Co. Prior to this, it had raised $5 Mn in Series A round from Ecotransit Investments International.  

According to its website, SmartE has partnered with 17 companies such as Kinetic Green, NTPC, SBI, HSIIDC, ACME, Sun Mobility, Exicom and AMARA RAJA. It further claims to have worked with more than 25 clients, including BigBasket, Flipkart, SpicXpress, Milkbasket, and Blowhorn.

______________________________________________________________________________________

47. Snap-E Cabs

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Mayank Bindal and Jaydip Mukherjee
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Kolkata

The 2022-founded Snap-E Cabs is an electric ride-hailing business that competes with the likes of BluSmart as well as Uber and Ola in the fast-evolving Indian ride-hailing market.

The bootstrapped startup initiated its operations in August 2022 and achieved a total fleet size of 600 electric cars by November 2023. 

Currently running in Kolkata only, Snap-E plans to deploy 2,000-3,000 more cars in the city in the next two years. However, instead of expanding its operations further in Tier-I cities, Snap-E aims to bring its electric cab services to cities in Raipur and Bhuvaneshwar.

It achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 11 Cr in just six months till October 2023. Snap-E is in talks with some VC firms and angel investors to raise some external funding.

______________________________________________________________________________________

48. Sheru

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan, and Shikhar Sharma
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Micelio, Smile Group, AdvantEdge
• Headquarters: Delhi

A brainchild of Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan and Shikhar Sharma, Sheru is a new-generation energy storage startup that has integrated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with battery swapping infrastructure. 

The startup initially operated battery swapping infrastructure for e-rickshaws. In 2023, Sheru launched a virtual cloud storage network, NetBat, which aggregates idle EV batteries to create energy storage facilities for utility companies. 

Power producers can simply tap into Sheru’s platform to store energy virtually as per their demand and on a pay-per-use basis. 

Sheru’s range of products and services also cater to battery manufacturers, financiers, resellers, and distribution companies. 

In June 2023, Sheru announced a partnership with intercity bus service provider, zingbus. Recently, Sheru also launched EnergyBox, a battery charging dock designed to charge detachable electric two-wheeler batteries at home, while also providing power backup for homes.

______________________________________________________________________________________

49. SUN Mobility 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Chetan Maini, Uday Khemka
• Funding Raised To Date: $50 Mn 
• Investors: Vitol
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

SUN Mobility, a joint venture of Maini Group and Sun Group, offers energy infrastructure. It manufactures lithium-ion batteries, named Smart Batteries, for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and buses. 

Through its app, EV drivers can locate its battery swapping stations and Quick Interchange Solutions, and swap their batteries. 

As per its website, the startup has partnered with various companies such as Omega Seiki, Vitol, Zypp Electric, Tata Power-DDL, Zyngo, Bosch, Piaggio, IndianOil, Uber, SmartE, Microsoft, and Ashok Leyland. It presently has 65 swapping stations in 15 cities in India, including Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

In October 2021, it reportedly secured $50 Mn in funding from Vitol to expand its footprint in India and abroad. 

It aims to set up 500 battery-swapping stations in the country by the end of the current year. It further plans to launch new products to improve the battery-swapping experience and strengthen its leadership.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

50. TSUYO

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Lalit Baid, Vijay Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn+
• Investors: Ramkrishna Forgings
• Headquarters: Delhi

TSUYO Manufacturing, a subsidiary of JYVA Engineering, makes powertrain solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) in India and other Asian nations.  

The startup produces BLDC motors and controllers for three-wheeler electric vehicles. It also builds customised EV solutions for companies, according to its website.

In December last year, Kolkata-based supplier Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. acquired a 51% stake in TSUYO for around INR 100 Cr (around $12.07 Mn at the then exchange rates). 

Ramkrishna Forgings had said that it would invest heavily in TSUYO in the next five years to increase its turnover to around INR 500 Cr by the end of the fifth year. 

______________________________________________________________________________________

51. Ultraviolette Automotive

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan  
• Funding Raised To Date: $20.56 Mn
• Investors: TVS, Zoho Corporation, Kumar Vembu, 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ultraviolette Automotive offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy infrastructure to customers. The EV startup sells a zero-emission electric bike named F77 and batteries on its website. 

In December 2021, Ultraviolette Automotive raised INR 112.5 Cr (about $15 Mn) from TVS Motor and Zoho. While TVS invested INR 75 Cr, Zoho pumped INR 38 Cr into the startup.  

Prior to this, Ultraviolette Automotive got an investment of INR 30 Cr from TVS in Series B funding round. In October 2020, it got an undisclosed amount of investment from GoFrugal’s Kumar Vembu as a part of a Series B round. Vembu also invested in the EV startup’s Series A round.

In 2018, Ultraviolette Automotive raised $862K (INR 6 Cr) in Series A round from TVS Motor Company. Earlier in 2017, TVS invested $700K (INR5 Cr) for a 14.78% stake in the EV startup.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

52. Vecmocon

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders:  Peeyush Asati, Adarshkumar B and Shivam Wankhede 
• Funding Raised To Date: Funding: $5.2 Mn
• Investors: Tiger Global, Blume Ventures, Tessellate Ventures
• Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Vecmocon offers battery management systems, vehicle intelligence services, chargers and instrument clusters. Its plug-and-play service integrates into electric vehicles’ OEMs. It is currently offering these services to electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, forklifts and tractors.

According to its website, the EV startup will soon begin offering motor controllers and fleet management for electric vehicles. 

In October, the EV startup secured $5.2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and other angel investors. The startup said it powered 5K EVs to date and aims to power more than 500K electric vehicles by 2025.

In 2019, it secured $300K in its seed funding round led by Tessellate Ventures.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

53. Vidyut Tech

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Xitij Kothi and Gaurav Srivastava
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn+
• Investors: Force Ventures, Veda VC, Kunal Shah, Sahil Barua
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded in 2021, Vidyut Tech is a commercial EV financing and vehicle lifecycle management platform, which aims to make commercial EV ownership more accessible and affordable.

The startup is trying to solve some of the biggest problems in the EV financing space by decoupling batteries from vehicles while underwriting loans for EVs. Given there is a gap in the longevity of EV batteries and vehicle chassis, Vidyut Tech believes that this approach works better for most customers in the L5 category of vehicles that it caters to.

Besides a traditional term loan plan, Vidyut provides buyers with a hybrid financing model for vehicle loans with a battery subscription. This brings down the upfront cost of the EVs by 40%-50%.

Using battery health data and its proprietary underwriting model, Vidyut extracts a high residual value for EVs, enabling customers to get an effective interest rate of 7% while buying the vehicles.

In December last year, the startup raised $4 Mn in Seed funding round.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

54. Yulu

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri, Hemant Gupta
• Funding Raised To Date: $27.4 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, 3One4 Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Incubate Fund India, Grey Cell Ventures, Bajaj, Rocketship
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Yulu offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup uses IoT, ML and AI for demand-supply management and efficient operations. It manufactures three EVs – Yulu Miracle for urban commuters, Yulu Move for short-distance commutes, and Yulu DEX for commuters carrying goods. Besides this, it offers rental services to commuters for up to 90 days in a few Indian cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune. 

It is currently operating in cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar in India. In November 2021, it reportedly started a wide network of battery and swapping stations – Yulu Max Network. 

In December last year, it reportedly raised $7 Mn in a debt funding round from Magna International INC through non-convertible notes. It has secured a total funding of $27.4 Mn to date. It claims to have swapped 3 Mn batteries to date and will expand its fleet to 100K units by the end of 2022. It further aims to start a franchise model and offer services to individual buyers over the next year.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

55. Zypp Electric

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Akash Gupta, Rashi Agarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn
• Investors: Northern Arc, 9Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Nanavati Family Office, We Founder Circle, Riso Capital Fund, Dholakia Ventures, Venture Catalysts, IAN Fund, Tarun Saraf, Rahul Khera, Arjun Seth, Mark Joseph
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Zypp Electric offers B2B delivery and shared mobility services to consumers. It provides electric scooters for last-mile delivery to more than 50 companies, including Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, PharmEasy, Delhivery, and Spencers, among others. 

Earlier, it had shared that with 6,000 electric vehicles on the road, it helped its partners complete more than 5 Mn deliveries in the financial year 2021-22.

In September 2021, it bagged $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 9Unicorns and Anthill Ventures. 

It has a headcount of 400 employees and plans to double its employee base by September 2023. 

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list.

Last updated on  Nov 18, 2023

The post 55 EV Startups That Are Helping Keep The Earth Healthy And Clean appeared first on Inc42 Media.

India’s personal computer (PC) shipments, which comprises desktops, notebooks and workstations, jumped to a record 4.5 Mn units during the July-September quarter of 2023, marking a 14% year-on-year (YoY) increase, according to a data from the International Data Corp (IDC).

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, the desktop category experienced a growth of 19.3% and notebooks saw a rise of 13.1%. The increased sales were linked to a greater demand for inventory, driven by the government’s decision to impose import licenses for PCs.

In the PC market, while the commercial sector showed no change, the consumer sector witnessed a significant increase of 26.3% compared to the previous year.

In a statement Bharath Shenoy, senior research analyst, IDC India, said, “In August, the government of India declared a mandatory requirement of import licenses for PCs from October 30. Though this decision was later put on hold, vendors shipped significant channel inventory to avoid any risks of supply shortages or price hikes, not to mention ensuring sufficient supplies for festival season sales.”

In August, the Indian government restricted the immediate import of laptops, tablets, and personal computers (HSN 8741 category). The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) simultaneously announced an exemption from import licensing for up to 20 items per consignment, applicable to activities like research and development (R&D), testing, benchmarking, evaluation, repair and return, and product development.

During the quarter, HP Inc maintained its market leadership, capturing a 29.4% share, up from 23.9% in the same quarter last year. Following HP were Lenovo and Dell, holding market shares of 17% and 14.6%, respectively. However, Lenovo experienced a decline of 8.8%, dropping from 21.3% in the July-September quarter of 2022. Dell’s share in the same quarter last year was 16%.

Asus accounted for 12.5% of all sales during the quarter and saw the highest jump in its shipments, at 43.9%. Its market share last year was 9.9%. As per IDC, Acer pushed stock on online channels and hence had its biggest consumer quarter ever.

Brands like Dell, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Apple, Lenovo, and HP dominate the Indian laptop and PC market. In 2022, the traditional PC market, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations, experienced a marginal year-over-year growth of 0.3%, reaching 14.9 Mn units. However, there was a significant year-over-year decline of 28.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022 (Oct-Dec), as reported by IDC.

The post India’s Q3 PC Shipments Jump 14% To Record 4.5 Mn In Import Licensing Push appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bike taxi startup Rapido has forayed into the cab segment, currently dominated by Uber and Ola, as it looks to expand its offerings and shore up revenue.

The Bengaluru-based startup is currently testing the response for cab services and has commenced a pilot in Hyderabad. It plans to introduce the services in other cities as well.

“At Rapido, we’re thrilled to share that our test run in Hyderabad for Rapido Cabs is off to a fantastic start. The city’s vibrant market has warmly embraced us, and the positive response is truly heartening. As we navigate our path forward, we are committed to keeping you closely informed about our progress and eagerly anticipate bringing our innovative services to other cities,” a Rapido spokesperson told Inc42.

The development was first reported by TechCrunch.

The publication also reported that Rapido is looking to integrate intercity bus ticket booking within its app in partnership with Zingbus. 

Founded in 2019 by Prashant Kumar, Mratunjay, and Ravi Kumar Verma, Zingbus aggregates buses to offer a standardised intercity travel experience to customers. The Delhi NCR-based startup claims to have partnered with over 70 small and medium size bus companies and connect 300 cities daily with over 350 buses. 

Rapido declined to comment on the partnership with Zingbus.

The development comes a day after it was reported that Rapido has begun rolling out a premium auto rickshaw service, Auto Plus, in Bengaluru.

Founded in 2015 by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli, and Aravind Sanka, Rapido operates a platform that connects users with bike taxis. It also offers auto services and peer-to-peer delivery services via Rapido Local. It claims to have a fleet of 5 Mn bike taxis and 7 lakh auto-rickshaws. The startup claims to operate in over 100  Indian cities and have over 25 Mn app downloads, 

While Rapido already competes with Uber and Ola, its entry in the cab segment would further intensify the competition for the companies which currently enjoy a dominant share in the cab services market.

The move to enter the cab segment is likely a move by the startup to grow its top line and user base. It is expected to help it draw new customers and retain the existing customers who might have to choose its competitors for availing cab rides. 

Rapido’s net loss surged 163% year-on-year to INR 439.02 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), while revenue from operations doubled to INR 144.77 Cr. 

The post Bike Taxi Startup Rapido Shifts Gears, Launches Cab Services To Take On Ola, Uber appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing startup Rapido has reportedly begun rolling out a premium auto rickshaw service, Auto Plus, in Bengaluru that offers guaranteed cancellation-free rides. 

As per Moneycontrol, Rapido is charging a minimum fare of INR 71 for users availing the Plus service as against the minimum charge of INR 46 for regular customers. While Inc42 could not independently verify the data, both pricing slabs are in contravention of auto fares fixed by the Karnataka High Court (HC) for aggregators. 

In its October 2022 order, the HC barred ride-hailing platforms from charging 10% more than the rate affixed by local authorities, excluding the 5% goods and services tax. (GST). The state transport officials, in November 2021, fixed a minimum fare of INR 30 for the first two km, and the subsequent distance would be charged at the rate of INR 15 per km. 

As per the report, the minimum regular auto fare of INR 46 comprises a ride fare of INR 36 and an additional pickup fee of INR 10. However, the app did not provide a breakdown of the minimum INR 71 fare chargeable to its premium auto customers. A message on the app read that the pickup fee from ‘Auto Plus’ rides is completely passed on to drivers. 

Responding to this, a Rapido spokesperson told the publication that the Auto Plus offering is priced 25%-30% higher than the no-frills regular auto service and the ride fare differs based on various factors. 

“In Bengaluru, the minimum fare for Auto service (what the company calls its regular offering) is INR 30 per km for the first 2 km, with additional charges of INR 15 per km applying thereafter. Auto Plus charges will be 25-30% higher than Auto… Rates may vary based on factors such as time of day, demand, and ongoing promotions or discounts,” said a company representative.

The move has yet again ignited concerns of overcharging by ride aggregators. A similar standoff in October last year led the local transport department to issue a ban on auto rides and direct ride-hailing companies to apply for a separate licence. 

Sticking to their guns, the transport authorities have reiterated that apps are prohibited from charging fares exceeding those mandated by the Karnataka HC last year. 

“Rapido is operating services illegally. They cannot charge more than INR 35 minimum fare for auto rickshaw services. We will book cases against drivers if they charge more,” additional transport commissioner L Hemanth Kumar reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Rapido said that the premium service was first introduced in Hyderabad in September. The offering was eventually rolled out in Bengaluru earlier this month as a pilot initiative to test the ground before full scale launch. 

As per the ride-hailing company, it has so far onboarded more than 10,000 drivers under the Auto Plus initiative in Bengaluru, with plans to expand the service to more than 50,000 drivers. The company touts Auto Plus as an upgraded version of the regular auto service offered by it. The move will enable the startup to shore up reliability, and offer financial incentives to drivers to curb ride cancellations. 

This comes a few weeks after reports surfaced that the Karnataka government was looking at banning carpooling in Bengaluru. While the state transport minister Ramalinga Reddy later rubbished any such reports, he highlighted that none of the carpooling platforms had sought permission from authorities for operating in the city. 

The move almost sparked another flashpoint between cab aggregators and state authorities. As ride-hailing companies continue to be in the dock for purportedly overcharging customers, it remains to be seen what next course of action is adopted by the state authorities. 

The post Rapido Rolls Out Guaranteed Auto Rides In Bengaluru At Steep Prices appeared first on Inc42 Media.

SaaS logistics platform Shipsy has acquired inventory management platform Stockone for an undisclosed amount. 

In a statement, Shipsy said the deal will enable it to expand its product portfolio and leverage synergies with Stockone to scale up its end-to-end logistics platform. The acquisition will also enable Shipsy to optimise its operations and bolster warehousing capabilities. 

In addition, the extended product suite will offer a ‘holistic logistics management experience’ for its enterprise customers from transportation to fulfilment.

“… The move further aligns with our long-term vision to provide scalable, efficient, and automated end-to-end logistics management solutions to our customers, covering warehousing, order fulfillment, and operational management,” said Shipsy cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) Soham Chokshi.

Chokshi added that the introduction of a new warehouse management system (WMS) and inventory management capabilities will enable the startup to undertake a strategic expansion of its existing product suite. 

Founded in 2015 by IIT alumni Chokshi, Dhruv Agarwal, Himanshu Gupta, and Sahil Arora, Shipsy offers a full-stack SaaS platform for enterprises to manage end-to-end logistics requirements. 

The startup offers AI-powered solutions to help businesses optimise costs, enhance consumer experiences and automate operations. Shipsy claims to have more than 220 enterprise clients under its belt, handle 15 Cr monthly shipments, and track more than 6.54 Lakh containers a month. 

The Gurugram-based startup last raised $23.89 Mn in a funding round led by A91 Partners last year. Overall, the startup has raised nearly $33 Mn till date. 

It counts enterprises and startups such as Udaan, Biriyani By Kilo, Tata Steel, Vedanta, and JSW Steel among its customers. 

Shipsy competes with the likes of Shiprocket, Kale, Pickr, Shipyaari, and Pidge. 

The growing ecommerce penetration and a surge in the logistics space have resulted in the emergence of logistics SaaS platforms that offer end-to-end solutions that help companies maintain efficiency while scaling up operations and processing truckloads.

As a result, more and more enterprises are looking for such products, which has spawned the rise of many startups in the space. This has also captured investors’ attention. As per Inc42 data, homegrown logistics SaaS startups secured $765 Mn between 2014 and February 2023.

Just this month, automaker Tata Motors signed an agreement to acquire 26.79% stake in logistics SaaS platform Freight Tiger for INR 150 Cr at a valuation of around INR 560 Cr. In September, Mumbai-based Kale Logistics bagged $30 Mn in a Series B funding round led by private equity (PE) firm Creaegis Advisors.

The post Shipsy Acquires Warehouse Management Startup Stockone To Bolster Offerings appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In yet another case of harassment of an Uber passenger, a woman has accused a driver of the cab aggregator of sending inappropriate messages after the completion of her ride.

Bhumika Maheshwari, a homeopathic doctor by profession, took to X, formerly Twitter, to share her ordeal, saying the incident left her uncomfortable and raised serious safety concerns.

“On 19/10/2023, I encountered a distressing situation where I received inappropriate messages from one of your drivers after a ride. This incident has not only left me feeling uncomfortable but has also raised serious security and safety concerns,” Maheshwari posted, tagging Uber India. 

Maheshwari called on the platform to take immediate steps to probe the matter and identify the alleged culprit. She also asked the ride-hailing giant to ensure such incidents do not take place and ensure safety and security of passengers is paramount for the company. 

Uber India declined to comment on the matter. In response to the complainant’s tweet online, the company said it was working to address the matter at the earliest. There was no clarity on the steps being taken by the company to resolve the issue.

Later, she said Uber’s security team informed her that the accused was ‘currently’ not on the company’s active driver list.

This is not the first time that the ride-hailing giant has landed in a soup for alleged sexual harassment by its drivers. In June this year, a post on LinkedIn went viral where a woman alleged that an Uber driver flashed her mid-ride in Bengaluru. 

In August, a passenger’s husband claimed that an Uber driver assaulted his wife in Bengaluru after they boarded a wrong cab. Besides, an Uber auto rickshaw driver was also arrested earlier this year after he allegedly tried to molest an IT professional in Pune. In another case involving an Uber driver this year, a female passenger claimed that the ride-hailing company did not respond to her multiple distress calls while being attacked by robbers in Delhi.

Uber is not alone in this. Other ride-hailing platforms from Ola to Rapido have also seen sexual harassment allegations against their drivers. In July, a woman jumped off a moving Rapido bike after the driver allegedly tried to sexually harass her. In March, a woman was allegedly molested by an Ola bike driver in Hyderabad.

The latest case has once again raised questions over the safety of ride-hailing platforms, especially for female passengers, and their background verification process for drivers. 

The post Another Day, Another Incident: Woman Accuses Uber Driver Of Sending Inappropriate Messages appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gig workers across Pune and Mumbai took to the streets, demanding ‘proper’ labour laws and a set of rules to protect the rights of delivery workers. 

As per Punekar News, gig workers, including drivers with cab aggregators and delivery workers, held a 24-hour strike in Pune on Wednesday (October 18). The cab and auto unions also announced another symbolic strike to press the government for their rights on October 25. 

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, cab aggregators, along with auto and taxi drivers, also took part in a protest earlier today (October 19) at Terminal 2 of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. 

As per reports, the Mumbai drivers are demanding a slew of reforms from the government including:

• Implementation of the Centre’s 2020 aggregator guidelines
• Creation of offices in Mumbai where gig workers can file their grievances
• Framing of rules to protect the rights of delivery workers
• Creation of a welfare board for gig workers 
• Creation of a regularised parking system for app-based taxis near the airport
• Reduction in the penalties levied by traffic police

Meanwhile, the leader of a Mumbai taxi union, Taufiq Shaikh, has warned authorities that the protests will be undertaken yet again if the demands are not met. 

In Pune, gig workers, especially Ola and Uber drivers, have reportedly sought better working conditions, more rights and promulgation of the ‘Cab Aggregators Act’. Maharashtra App-Based Transport Workers Union (MAT) president Prashant Sawardekar told Medianama that the Pune protests were part of a state-wide initiative by a Joint Action Committee of various app-based and regular cab drivers to demand rights from the government. 

President of the Baghtoy Rickshawaala Union Keshav Kshirsagar told Times of India that Maharashtra, despite being home to the largest number of gig workers in the country, was yet to formulate regulations to govern the local gig economy. 

“We demand that these laws be framed in the upcoming winter session and released for the workers. We approached the district administration workers earlier on this issue, but no action has been initiated yet. We will initiate the further course of action if the state government fails,” Kshirsagar added.

As per Baghtoy Rickshawaala Union, the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad belt accounts for 1.45 Lakh gig workers, including nearly 80,000 cab drivers and 25,000 food delivery workers.

The gig workers in Pune are also protesting the ban imposed by local transport authorities on app-based auto rickshaw services. 

Amid this, the general public suffered in Mumbai as users could not book cabs. On the other hand, Pune residents could neither order food nor book cabs.   

The gig workers are demanding a slew of sops on the lines of what was announced by the Rajasthan government earlier this year, including plans to set up an INR 200 Cr welfare fund and enactment of the Gig Workers Welfare Act.

The post Gig Workers Take To Streets In Mumbai & Pune, Demand Better Wages & Labour Laws appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reportedly issued notices to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and cab aggregator Uber in a plea filed by the latter’s competitor, Meru Cabs.

During the hearing, lawyers representing Meru argued that Uber employed steep discounting practices during 2014-2017, the initial years of its operation in India, which adversely impacted the ride-hailing industry, as per a Moneycontrol report.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled in January 2024.

The Legal Battle

At the heart of the matter is a long-standing dispute between Meru and Uber. In 2015, Mumbai-based Meru approached the CCI, alleging that Uber was engaging in anti-competitive practices.

In its complaint with the CCI, Meru alleged that Uber was charging very low rates for its services. The average market price of radio taxis in Kolkata stood at about INR 20-22 per km before Uber entered the market. 

After introducing its services in Kolkata in 2014, Uber first lowered its service rate to about INR 15 per km, which later dropped further to about INR 9 per km along with driver incentives and customer discounting.

However, the CCI rejected Meru’s plea in December 2015, saying it found no prima facie case against Uber. “The Commission is of the view that the OP Group (Uber) does not hold a dominant position in the relevant market,” it said. 

In 2016, Meru accused Uber of being a ‘law breaker’ and ‘a company which monetises on price-play’. 

Next, Meru took Uber and the CCI to the appellate tribunal, which asked the CCI’s director general (DG) to conduct an investigation into Meru’s allegation. 

However, Uber filed an appeal against this order at the Supreme Court. In 2019, the apex court upheld the tribunal’s order, directing the DG to investigate the allegations. 

On concluding its investigation, the DG filed its report saying Uber was not a dominant player in the market due to competition from Ola and other cab services. 

Following this the CCI dismissed Meru’s plea in 2021. However, Meru approached  the NCLAT against this.

Though the NCLAT presented its view that Uber was a new player in the Indian market during the 2014-2017 period and the law allows new companies to offer such discounts to establish the business, Meru’s lawyer argued that several of Uber’s competitors have either gone out of business or are on the verge of shutting down. 

It must be noted that Meru also filed a complaint against Ola in 2015 with allegations of predatory pricing, which was also dismissed by the CCI.

Meanwhile, both Ola and Uber continue to face allegations pertaining to unfair trade practices and fare-related issues. Last year, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued notices to both the cab aggregators for alleged violation of consumer rights and unfair trade practices.

The post NCLAT Issues Notice To CCI, Uber On Meru Cabs’ Plea appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Think Azadpur Mandi, one of the biggest wholesale markets in India dealing in fruits and vegetables, and one can easily imagine huge gunny bags filled to capacity and a long row of pickup vehicles patiently waiting outside to deliver bulk orders.

Ask ‘cargo owners’ if fast and efficient transportation is a huge challenge and they will agree en masse. Things are so chaotic that business owners seek the services of brokers/agents (read intermediaries) to arrange deliveries. Worse still, owners of small fleets have to wait long and negotiate the fares, often making losses due to delayed load availability, payments and random deductions.

But the scenario has changed to a large extent after Gurugram-based Raaho started operating as the ‘Uber for trucks’ in India. It connects shippers (third-party logistics/3PL players) with truck/fleet owners in about 15-20 minutes, focussing on efficiency and operational transparency in a largely unorganised inter-city trucking sector.

Raaho was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur Md Imthiaz, Muralidharan Chandrashekhar, Vipul Sharma, Abu Fahad and Joshua Jebakumar. Operational since 2017, it is  an online truck aggregator and on-demand inter-city truck-hailing platform that eliminates the need for intermediaries. The startup uses machine learning and data science for freight matching and route optimisation, thus slashing extra miles and emissions and guaranteeing higher incomes for the trucking community.

In 2014, Imthiaz exited hyperlocal reward and discovery platform. The serial entrepreneur began searching for his next project and wanted to venture into the grocery space.

But before starting up, the founders frequently visited Azadpur Mandi for a deeper understanding of the supply chain dynamics. During these visits, they witnessed for the first time the difficulties faced by truckers.

“They depend on brokers for the freight,” recalled Imthiaz. Moreover, the freight matching is done completely manually using a register that contains all essential data such as the driver’s name, licence number of the vehicle and vehicle type with information on the origin & destination (called ODVT in the industry parlance). This manual method was time-consuming and quite inefficient. Truck owners used to report to those brokers early in the day and waited until the evening/ next day for their freight.

Besides the chaotic demand-supply scenario, the founders noticed yet another problem. “Small truckers owning fewer than 10 trucks dominate this fragmented market,” said Imthiaz. So, optimised asset utilisation is critical for these truckers for a steady revenue flow, which means they require quick and consistent freight orders.

Aware that the segment was ripe for disruption, the five set up Raaho.  Its key clientele includes the prominent transporters and 3PL players such as Delhivery, Gati, RITCO, Safexpress, Om Logistics, TCI (Transport Corporation of India), V Trans, Okay Logistics among others.

The startup has onboarded 3,800+ fleet owners and now covers as many as 15 cities, including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Patna and more.

In March 2023, the startup raised INR 20 Cr from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Roots Ventures, Blume Founders Fund and marquee angels like Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Shah and more as part of its extended Pre-Series A round. It clocked INR 129 Cr in revenue in FY23, a 3x jump from the previous financial year, claimed Imthiaz.

Raaho’s Inclusive Solutions For Key Stakeholders

In a bid to change how logistics operations are carried out, Raaho has developed a B2B model, keeping in mind all three stakeholders. These include businesses/shippers needing to deliver bulk orders efficiently; fleet owners, mostly small players, offering transportation services, and drivers on the ground responsible for transporting goods within states and across state lines. Despite their codependence, there is a clear lack of convergence among these stakeholders, the critical challenge the platform aims to address.

To that end, the startup has developed three separate apps on Google Playstore for shippers, truck owners and drivers – each tailored to meet the specific requirements of respective stakeholders.

To begin with, a shipper can raise a booking request via the shipper app by specifying the pickup and delivery locations, type of freight and desired delivery date. On the trucker app, fleet owners can bid on the request by setting the price they will accept for the load. Next, Raaho uses its algorithms to list the highest bids and nearest locations matching the freight request. Raaho provides real-time shipment tracking when a job is accepted.

The platform streamlines the entire process, including easy onboarding of truck owners and drivers, document uploading and managing the same through shared access.

The startup also helps drivers working for fleet owners. On the Raaho driver app, they can easily indicate their readiness for a load and receive round-the-clock customer support They also gain by finding instant loads, optimised routes and quick payments. In contrast, offline brokers can seldom suggest shortest routes and the traditional payment cycles are usually longer. According to Imthiaz, Raaho’s partner trucks cover about 11,000 km per month, significantly higher than the industry standard of 8,000 km.

“There is a substantial boost in income for our partner truck owners and drivers due to this increased efficiency. Their earnings have seen a remarkable surge of approximately 35%,” said Imthiaz.

Raaho also handles payments seamlessly and ensures truckers get 90% in advance via a secure digital payment solution on the app. The remaining amount is paid within 24 hours of the submission of proof of delivery, revealed the founder.

Raaho’s revenue model is pretty straightforward. It earns a margin on every trip made through its platform. The margin is the difference between what a shipper pays and what Raaho pays to the truck owner undertaking the delivery. In the marketplace parlance, this is often called the ‘take rate’.

Will Customer Support, Tech-Managed Trucking Drive Growth?

Raaho’s inclusive business model and tech-driven capabilities have brought much-needed operational transparency to commercial trucking. The rising digital awareness across India is another boon for the platform, which plans to double the number of truck owners and drivers from 3,800+ to 8,000+ by the end of FY24. It also aims to reach every pin code in the next three to five years.

That is easier said than done, as the logistics space in India is still fraught with many challenges. Consider this. When Raaho began its operations six years ago, digital awareness was low and convincing the trucking community to switch from the age-old agent system to a fully digitalised platform was daunting. More importantly, digital payments, which form the backbone of the platform’s business model, were not widely adopted at the time. In brief, the concept of a ‘digital Bharat’ was taking shape, but early adopters were few and far between.

Still, those very challenges helped build a stellar customer support team, always ready to assist shippers, fleet owners and drivers via its digital channels. The team conducted onboarding campaigns in locations with high road freight demand. The goal was to build trust among these players, get them comfortable with digital processes and onboard them seamlessly.

Incidentally, Imthiaz and other founders had gone the extra mile to ensure they understood the trucker problem. They invested their own money, approximately INR 2 Cr, to buy 10 trucks and drove them around the country to understand the life of  truck drivers and what hindered smooth operations. Their first-hand experience helped build what Raaho is today.

Even the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a game-changer due to the surge in digital awareness and mass adoption of digital tech, including online payments. Add to that proactive policy initiatives, improved infrastructure and the focus on sustainable logistics, which amply explain why India has climbed up six places in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index in 2023.

This does not mean Raaho can grow exponentially without tapping into the latest technology. For starters, a handful of startups like BlackBuck and Vahak use deeptech applications to transform India’s trucking sector, as 66% of the cargo (in tonne-km) movement in the country is done via road transportation. This logistics trend has unleashed a mammoth opportunity for young logistics companies, and Raaho, too, is keen to leverage it.

“Raaho will introduce the National Digital Freight Index, showcasing daily vehicle and lane-wise pricing. This nationwide launch is set for 2024,” said Imthiaz.

Finally, trucking startups like Raaho are trying to tackle one of the toughest challenges of inter-city trucking: The deadhead miles. They refer to the extra distance that empty trucks must travel to pick up the next shipment after unloading their cargo.

But this issue is not limited to India alone. Even developed economies like the US face the same challenge. According to a report by Convoy, a trucking software company, up to 35% of U.S. truck miles may be empty. In India, the situation can be worse due to the fragmented nature of the industry.

Deadhead miles result in massive losses for truck owners because they are not paid for the time and the fuel. A report by ICICI Lombard suggests that the Indian logistics sector incurred an annual loss of $21.3 Bn in 2022 due to order delays and extra fuel consumption.

Nothing short of tech-driven load matching, smart routing and real-time monitoring and communications can do away with these hurdles and drive growth across India’s deeply fragmented logistics sector that costs between 13-14% of GDP. Can Raaho and its ilk put things right with the help of a multimodal digital infrastructure and sustainable strategies?

The post How Raaho Is Using Tech To Transform India’s Fragmented Commercial Trucking appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Last-mile logistics is the vital link that connects businesses to end customers, a crucial and true differentiator in the supply chain. Though the essence of last-mile logistics has remained constant, the mechanisms have evolved. 

The advent of technology, coupled with the rise of the instant economy, has rewritten the playbook. Horse-drawn carriages have given way to motorized vehicles, and foot messengers to digital notifications. The thread of history, once spun by traditional traders and hawkers, is now woven with algorithms and real-time tracking.

As the pandemic provided a significant momentum boost to ecommerce and aggregators worldwide, the Indian logistics sector witnessed substantial growth too. According to Redseer Consultants, the ecommerce logistics industry saw a growth of over a billion in FY23, and it is projected to maintain a minimum CAGR of over 20%. 

This growth trajectory will see Indian ecommerce cross a trillion dollars before the end of this decade, a crucial piece in India’s journey to being the third-largest economy in the world.

Since all ecommerce must end in a delivery, the successful conversion of a customer’s order into a final delivery can often make or break a business.

There have been significant digitisation efforts for businesses over the past few years, including the rapid adoption of omnichannel business models such as creating digital storefronts to sell on marketplaces and utilising digital payment methods such as UPI and gateways. 

Managing deliveries, especially the intricacies of last-mile logistics and fleet management still remains operationally heavy and highly unorganized. There is a painful digital disparity between the demand and the supply side of businesses.

Despite significant investments in Indian logistics companies, brands are still concerned regarding the reliability of third-party logistics (3PL) partners. Consequently, many businesses have opted to return to employing their own dedicated captive riders.

According to insights from Redseer, the use of captive riders has increased from 48% in 2017–18 to a substantial 67% today. 

The question is: Why is every delivery company bleeding capital? Why are businesses choosing to manage their deliveries internally, even when more options seem to be available? Why does the entire logistics ecosystem operate in layers upon layers, where profitability remains elusive? There are aggregators, followed by 3PL partners who collaborate with regional vendors, who in turn outsource to local manpower suppliers, and eventually, we reach the final rider. Why is unit economics completely broken?

The Indian delivery ecosystem is built on the hypothesis of an abundant supply of low-cost labor, but what if the labor was neither abundant nor low-cost?

Amidst this chaotic landscape of disrupted unit economics, incomplete solutions, and unmet demand, India’s last-mile logistics ecosystem desperately requires rethinking and reconstruction.

Breaking Barriers And Bringing Digital Parity

We all like more options, and it would be more exciting if all options could be perfectly replaceable. What if we had dependable technology that gave the best delivery solution based on our business needs? What if we had the freedom to choose a delivery option that is best suited for the situation? 

The solution lies in transforming the Indian delivery ecosystem by enabling each business to build its own hybrid, unified, and interoperable delivery network. No barriers, no compromised choices, no lost revenue, no latency, no digital oppression – just a thriving and equitable ecosystem for all!

On the other hand, what if all delivery participants in the ecosystem were able to provide a similar experience to the businesses and their end customers? The ability to build their own micro-networks offers businesses valuable freedom – the ability to select delivery partners tailored to their specific products or commodities. 

For example, consider a business selling cakes; it needs special handling and premium delivery partners. Conversely, a grocery store might require fast delivery options. It’s important to note that the delivery experience for an INR 200 order differs significantly from that of an INR 2000 order.

These open networks empower businesses to make these crucial choices, ensuring that the delivery aligns perfectly with their unique needs and customer expectations. 

Often, businesses with delivery partners find their resources underutilized during periods of low demand. Conversely, during peak hours, they are constrained by limited capacities. Through their own networks, businesses can seamlessly share their riders across the network to optimize latency and reduce delivery costs. 

On the other hand, access to robust and hybrid networks means never having unfulfilled demand and thus increasing revenue. This interconnected network fosters optimal efficiency, ensuring each vehicle and team member is used to their maximum potential, alleviating congestion and streamlining operations.

A True Digital Parity For All 

Ultimately, we need a solution where everyone wins, and these hybrid, interoperable logistic micro-networks are a surefire way to create a sustainable and scalable logistics ecosystem. 

Small and medium-scale businesses, whether offline or online, can reap the benefits of diverse delivery options, enabling them to satisfy customer demands even during periods of high demand. 

Smaller logistics providers can access advanced technology and expansive networks that were once beyond their grasp. End consumers, in turn, will enjoy improved delivery services, quicker turnaround times, and enhanced transparency. 

This transformation will truly unleash the growth of ecommerce at a macro level and, at the micro level, enable profitable businesses both on the demand and supply side. The time is ripe for a reckoning; the logistics ecosystem now needs to play to win because playing not to lose won’t cut it.

The post The Last Mile Bubble Has Burst: What’s Next? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing major Uber reportedly expects India to emerge as its largest market globally in the next decade as the company moves its focus towards two-wheelers (2W) and three-wheelers (3W).

Uber’s global vice-president for public policy Andrew Byrne told Moneycontrol that the company aims to double its presence in India as it eyes a big chunk of growth in the country. 

“We expect to double our presence in India, tap into more geographies, expand our services to include more three- and two-wheelers, which is where the biggest growth will be,” said Byrne.

He added that this expansion would also lead to an increase in Uber’s workforce in the country which currently stands at 3,000. “In fact, what we are building in Hyderabad and Bengaluru is being used for our services worldwide,” he added. 

Byrne also said that administrative compliances continue to be a challenge in India, which have ‘prodded’ Uber to think of different ways to cater to the market. He, however, added that the country has come a long way since 2013 when Uber had a ‘tough time’ explaining its service to the regulators. 

“We do believe there is economic value in ride-sharing regulations if you want the full benefit of a service like Uber,” added Bryne.

The comment comes as Uber continues to grapple with regulatory tussles with state governments across the country from Karnataka to Maharashtra. Different states have different licensing regimes which increases the compliance burden for the company.

On the question of Uber India’s switch to green vehicles, Byrne said the cost of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to be a challenge for the company as it chases its goal to become net zero. Touting Uber’s partnership with Tata Motors to roll out 25,000 EVs on its platform, he said it was just the tip of the iceberg. 

Responding to questions about the experience and safety of customers during Uber rides, Byrne said that the company is ‘constantly innovating’ to cater to the unique demands of the Indian market.

The reassurance comes barely a couple of days after a man was arrested for molesting and abusing a female Uber driver in Kolkata. In the past few months, many such incidents have come to light in different parts of the country. 

Amid growing cases of ride-cancellations on the platform, Byrne said Uber has introduced more transparency and reforms to make it attractive for drivers to stay with the company. 

“We have had significant issues with cancellations and reliability, and are constantly talking to our drivers. We have introduced more transparency so that the driver knows exactly how much he/she is getting paid. We have started paying drivers more regularly. We need to double the number of drivers and for that, we have to make it attractive for them to be with us,” Byrne added.

Available in 125 cities across the country, Uber competes with the likes of Ola Cabs, Rapido, and BluSmart across various categories. As Uber looks to scale its operations, hectic activity seems to be underway behind the scenes. 

Last month, Uber appointed former investment banker Arnab Kumar as the director of business development for India and South Asia. Just prior to that, it also unveiled the group ride feature in the country which allows users to share the ride with users enroute the same destination. 

Even as it fights a multi-front regulatory battle with authorities in Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka, the ride-hailing major has been bogged down by growing incidents of women safety-related issues. Alongside, it has also been under spotlight for poor ratings on the gig workers index.

Meanwhile, losses continue to be a major pain point for Uber India. It reported a net loss of INR 216 Cr in FY22, down 35% from INR 333.9 Cr in FY21. On the other hand, revenue grew 4% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 396.95 Cr in the year ended March 2022.

The post Uber To Double Presence In India, Expects Country To Be Largest Global Market Next Decade appeared first on Inc42 Media.

RubanBridge Pvt. Ltd, a district commerce platform which operates under the name 1Bridge, has acquired the technology assets of eSamudaay to build a district commerce stack for the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

1Bridge also said it has raised an equity funding of INR 4 Cr from its current institutional investor C4D Partners, along with participation from Sudhanva Dhananjaya Family Office and other angel investors in a bridge round. The ruraltech startup said the bridge round comes ahead of its proposed Series A fundraise of INR 40 Cr.

In a statement, 1Bridge said agreement with eSamudaay is a step towards creating a district commerce system that is ready to work with ONDC. It involves a network of sellers integrated with logistics, making it easy to connect every district headquarters city with the smaller talukas and villages. 

eSamudaay has been an early partner of ONDC and has played a crucial role in facilitating the onboarding of sellers onto the network, particularly in markets such as Udupi, Meerut, and Mysore.

Ravinder Singh Mahori, the cofounder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of eSamudaay, has now taken on the role of CTO at 1Bridge. 

Commenting on the agreement, Madan Padaki, founder and CEO of 1Bridge, said that in its 7 years of operation, the startup has served over 2 Mn customers through a network of 21,000+ local entrepreneurs, reaching 18,000+ villages across 75 districts in South and Western India.

“With the experience of executing over 70 Mn commerce and last-mile delivery transactions in rural markets, we are now leveraging this expertise by acquiring the technology assets of eSamudaay to take digital commerce deeper into the districts. Our assisted commerce model built on ONDC rails will enable millions of new-to-digital buyers and sellers to experience the power of access, choice, and convenience that digital commerce brings,” Padaki said.

Launched in May 2016 by Padaki, Anil Kumar and M Chakrawarty, 1Bridge is a rural commerce platform that provides products and digital services at the doorsteps of rural consumers. 

In 2021, 1Bridge raised $2.5 Mn in a pre-Series A round led by C4D Partners and angel investor Prashanth Boccasam.

Meanwhile, since its launch in 2022, ONDC has been working on establishing open protocols for all aspects of digital commerce, allowing buyers and sellers to use any compatible application or platform to conduct transactions. It aims to break silos of multiple ecommerce platforms and unify them with a single, open network.

In July, ONDC announced that its daily retail orders crossed the 35,000 mark with Delhi-NCR and  Bengaluru contributing more than 11,000 and 7,000 orders, respectively. The platform was recording as much as 40% sales in Bengaluru, followed by other metro cities like Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad. 

The post 1Bridge Acquires eSamudaay’s Technology Assets To Boost District Commerce appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai-based logistics SaaS startup Kale Logistics has secured $30 Mn in a Series B funding round led by the private equity (PE) firm Creaegis Advisors LLP.

“The investment will fuel Kale’s mission to develop and deploy robust Cargo Community Systems to transform global logistics beyond regional boundaries,” the startup said. The funding round comes almost two years after it announced a $5 Mn Series A investment from Inflexor Ventures in 2021.

Incorporated in 2009 by Amar More, Rajesh Panicker and Vineet Malhotra, Kale Logistics offers software solutions for the logistics industry. 

The cofounders said on the funding, “We are thrilled to partner with Creaegis for our global expansion, leveraging their operational value add and SaaS experience. Together with our esteemed group of existing investors, we are well-positioned for the next phase of growth.”

Kale’s flagship product is the Cargo Community Platform, which offers a single source of data to support operational flows, disseminating information to various stakeholders and facilitating the paperless exchange of trade-related data between stakeholders.

The Cargo Community Platform brings all stakeholders of the cargo value chain onto a single platform, eliminating redundancies and bringing communication to disjointed systems. Kale’s other offerings include SaaS solutions catering to a wide network of Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) and helping strengthen and improve their operational and business capabilities.

Kale looks to reduce the complexities involved in cargo movement at airports and seaports by using its integrated platforms and ERP solutions for all stakeholders.

Prakash Parthasarathy, managing partner & CEO of Creaegis, added, “The global logistics industry is undergoing a rapid digital disruption with a need for intelligent automation and end-to-end visibility through all nodes. This transformation is led by smart and centralised technology platforms. Kale, with its category-defining Cargo Community Platforms and a suite of SaaS solutions, is leading this disruption by digitising and automating end-to-end cargo operations in airports and seaports.”

Kale has offices in India, UAE, Kenya, Netherlands and the USA. It engages with more than 100 airports and seaports worldwide in 35+ countries.

The post SaaS Startup Kale Logistics Raises $30 Mn To Digitise & Automate Cargo Operations appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based intra-city logistics startup Porter’s operating revenue crossed the INR 1,700 Cr mark in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. The Tiger Global-backed startup reported an operating revenue of INR 1,753.5 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), a 2X jump from INR 847.6 Cr in the previous year. 

Porter generates revenue by offering services for transportation of goods. Including other income, Porter reported a total revenue of INR 1,789.1 Cr during the year under review as against INR 862 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

In line with the revenue, the startup’s total expenditure also almost doubled to INR 1,946.8 Cr in FY23 from INR 984 Cr in FY22. The rise in the expenditure could solely be attributed to the increase in fleet operation cost, which accounted for 80% of the total expenditure at INR 1,578.8 Cr in FY23. Fleet operating expenses stood at INR 786.4 Cr in FY22.

Porter also spent INR 185.9 Cr on employee benefit expenses, a 75% increase from INR 106 Cr in the previous year. 

It must also be highlighted that Porter announced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) liquidation scheme worth INR 50 Cr for its current and former employees in January this year.

Porter’s net loss jumped 29% to INR 157.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 122.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Founded in 2014 by Pranav Goel, Vikas Chaudhary, and Uttam Digga, Porter is an important player in the logistics sector with its on-demand marketplace for trucks, bikes and packers and movers. 

The startup recently restructured its leadership team, with cofounder Digga assuming the role of CEO. Earlier, Digga held the position of chief operating officer, a role which the startup has decided to dissolve.

Porter has raised over $132 Mn to date and counts Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, and the Mahindra Group among its backers.

The startup competes with the likes of listed unicorn Delhivery, Xpressbees, and Ecom Express.

The post Logistics Startup Porter’s Operating Revenue Doubles To INR 1,753 Cr In FY23 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Karnataka transport department is reportedly registering cases against Porter and its drivers for alleged breach of regulations by the logistics startup.

C. Mallikarjun, Karnataka’s Additional Commissioner for Transport (Enforcement-South), told Moneycontrol that Porter is operating without the required goods carriage permit from the department and also displaying advertisements on its vehicles without proper authorisation.

Mallikarjun said the transport department has begun filing cases against both Porter and the drivers working on its platform.

Over the past week, the transport department has booked more than 100 cases against Porter drivers in Bengaluru. “I’ve also instructed the Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Central (HSR Layout) to issue a notice to Porter since it falls under their jurisdiction,” Mallikarjun said.

The authorities are taking action against drivers who display the company’s advertisements on their vehicles. These drivers are being fined INR 5,000 each.

Additionally, he mentioned that Porter can apply for the required permit from the department to operate within the city. The decision to take action followed complaints from drivers, the official further stated.

Founded in 2014 by Pranav Goel, Vikas Chaudhary, and Uttam Digga, Porter claims to provide distance-based allocation, GPS tracking, proactive notifications, and more, to empower its driver partners.

In its FY22 filings, the startup said it launched operations in new cities, including Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Nagpur, during the year, adding to Bengaluru and Delhi NCR, where it already had presence.

Porter’s fleet can be divided into two main groups: vehicles with permission and advertisements displayed, constituting approximately 20-25% of its fleet, and those without any advertisements, accounting for around 75-80%. Within the first category, a small number of vehicles are running advertisements without licences, as per the report.

Porter is reportedly in the process of securing valid licences for all vehicles falling within the first category. However, it may consider discontinuing advertising on vehicles operating in Karnataka altogether if it encounters legal challenges, as per the report.

Earlier this year, Porter restructured its leadership team, with cofounder Uttam Digga taking the role of CEO. Previously, Digga held the position of chief operating officer, a role which the startup decided to dissolve.

Porter posted a loss of INR 122 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), owing to Covid-19 and the lockdowns. Its operating revenue jumped 2.6X to INR 847.7 Cr in FY22 from INR 322.2 Cr in FY21.

The post Logistics Startup Porter In K’taka Transport Dept’s Crosshairs For Violating Rules appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing giant Uber has appointed former investment banker Arnab Kumar as the director of business development for India and South Asia. 

Kumar has over 17 years of experience in the technology and financial services industries. Prior to this, he was associated with Coinbase as the director for India market expansion. Before that he worked as a program director at government think tank NITI Aayog. Kumar also worked for Deutsche Bank as an investment banker in Singapore and New York. 

He pursued a post graduate program in management, finance, strategy & leadership from the Indian School of Business and holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology from the Birla Institute of Technology.

Commenting on the appointment, Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh said, “During his work at NITI Aayog, he delivered impact and change at scale. Under his leadership, our business development team will continue to be a key accelerant for our partnerships and new growth opportunities.”

Kumar said, “India and South Asia present tremendous growth potential and I look forward to joining forces with the incredibly talented team at Uber and supporting the company’s growth ambitions in this important region.”

Uber is available across 125 cities in India. Customers can book a ride on its app on two-, three- and four-wheelers for their intracity and intercity travel needs. The company competes with the likes of Ola Cabs, Rapido, and BluSmart.

Earlier this week, Uber launched a group ride feature in India which allows users to share the ride with three other people while travelling to the same destination. 

Earlier this year, the fleet operator also said that it will procure 25,000 electric vehicles from Tata Motors to introduce premium category service. 

Uber India reported a net loss of INR 216 Cr in FY22, down 35% from INR 333.9 Cr in FY21. Further, its operating revenue increased by 4% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 396.95 Cr.

The post Uber Appoints Arnab Kumar As Director of Business Development For India, South Asia appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing major Uber has rolled out a new feature, ‘Group Rides’, in India that allows users to share trips with up to three other people while travelling to a common destination.

With this new feature, users can start a group ride by extending invitations to their friends through messaging apps. The passengers would have the option to add their own pickup locations once they join the trip, and those locations will be automatically updated in the ride route, Uber India said in a statement.

The new feature will help users save up to 30% on their fares without negatively impacting the driver’s earnings, the company claimed. 

“With Group Rides we are offering customers the option to save more while they are riding with people they know. Not only do riders save money and arrive at the common destination together but they also do the good deed of reducing vehicles on the road… ,“ said Nitish Bhushan, director of central operations at Uber India.

The new feature is similar to Uber Pool service, which was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ola also offers a similar service under the name Ola Share.

In the statement, Uber added that the company intends to reduce traffic on the roads with this feature and minimise the dependency on individual vehicles while carpooling with friends, coworkers, or family members. 

The development comes at a time when the Indian government as well as companies and startups are working on reducing their carbon emissions and aiming for sustainable growth.

Earlier this year, Uber India introduced 25,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in the premium category service on its platform in partnership with Tata Motors.

Uber’s archrival Ola is also looking to strengthen its premium electric vehicle (EV) segment and promote sustainable transportation by deploying a fleet of 10,000 EVs. 

Uber India’s net loss declined 35% to INR 216 Cr in FY22 from INR 333.9 Cr in FY21. Revenue from operations rose 4% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 396.95 Cr in FY22.

The post Uber Rolls Out ‘Group Rides’ Feature In India To Offer Cost-Efficient Travel Options appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing giant Uber is once again in the news for the wrong reasons as one of its cab drivers has been accused of assaulting a woman in Bengaluru for getting into the wrong cab by mistake. 

The incident took place in a housing society in the Bhoganahalli area under the Bellandur police station’s jurisdiction.

The shocking incident was brought to the notice of the cab aggregator by the woman’s husband Ajay Agrawal on X (formerly Twitter). In his post, Agrawal said that his wife and son had booked an Uber cab for a visit to a hospital with a pickup location. 

However, they boarded a wrong cab, following which its driver came out of the car and physically assaulted the woman. Following this, the neighbours rushed to help the woman and his son and caught hold of the driver. The incident was also captured on a security camera. 

Expressing his grievances on the matter, Agrawal said, “Uber, with the latest tech and you are stated to focus on security we could not reach you.”

In response to the tweet, Uber apologised to Agrawal and assured that necessary actions would be taken against the accused driver. 

Inc42 has reached out to Uber for a comment on the development. The story will be edited on receiving a response from the company.

On Thursday (August 10), the police said that the accused driver was identified as a resident of the Gadag district of the state and was arrested. 

This is not the first time when Uber, which was earlier involved in tussle with multiple state governments like Maharashtra and Karnataka over licence, finds itself involved in such a controversy.

Earlier this year, an Uber autorickshaw driver was arrested after he allegedly tried to molest an IT professional in Pune. Before that, a female passenger accused Uber of not responding to her distress calls when she was allegedly attacked by robbers in Delhi.

Besides Uber, other cab, auto and motorbike aggregators have also been accused of not caring about the safety of their customers.

In July, a woman accused a driver of bike service aggregator Rapido of sexual harassment. 

In April this year, another woman also accused a Rapido driver of harassment and molestation. The incident took place minutes away from Rapido’s headquarters in the city. It was captured on a security camera and the woman was seen jumping off a moving bike.  

The post Uber Driver Accused Of Assaulting Woman In Bengaluru For Onboarding Wrong Cab appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Tiger Global-backed logistics startup, Porter, has restructured its leadership team, with cofounder Uttam Digga assuming the role of CEO. Previously, Digga held the position of chief operating officer, a role which the startup has decided to dissolve.

As part of the rejig, current CEO Pranav Goel has transitioned to the role of executive vice chairman.

The startup’s chief technology officer Shruti Ranjan Satapathy has also got additional responsibilities as its chief product and technology officer.

“We now embark on a new chapter of exponential growth and expansion and there could be no better time than now to make some strategic leadership role realignments,” Goel said.

He further added that in the new role, he will be assisting Diga and the other leadership team members to drive financial metrics and shape the startup’s strategy.

Founded in 2014 by Pranav Goel, Vikas Chaudhary, and Uttam Digga, Porter has been one of the crucial names in the logistics sector with its on-demand marketplace for trucks, bikes and Packers and Movers. The startup is backed by the likes of Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, and the Mahindra Group.

Porter posted a loss of INR 122 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), owing to Covid-19 and the lockdown. Porter’s operating revenue jumped 2.6X to INR 847.7 Cr in FY22 from INR 322.2 Cr in FY21.

In its FY22 filings, the startup said that it launched operations in new cities, including Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Nagpur, during the year to add to Bengaluru and Delhi NCR, where it already had a presence.

Earlier in January, the startup liquidated ESOPs with a total value of INR 50 Cr for its current and former employees. Though the startup did not clarify how many employees are eligible under the scheme, it mentioned that the ESOP holders will be able to sell their options at 50% more than the last liquidation valuation.

Last year, Bengaluru-based COGOS Technologies acquired Porter’s FMCG modern trade business for an undisclosed amount. As a result, the subsidiary’s workforce, customer base, and vendors moved to COGOS.

The post Tiger Backed Porter Restructures Leadership Team, Names Uttam Digga As CEO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In another shocking incident, a Bengaluru woman has accused a Rapido driver of sexual harassment mid-way during the ride.

Ironically, the incident took place when the victim Athira Purushothaman was returning home after protesting against Manipur violence in the city’s Town Hall area. 

Speaking about her ordeal, Purushothaman alleged that the driver engaged in ‘inappropriate behaviour’ while driving through a remote stretch when no vehicles were around. She speke about the incident in a Twitter thread tagging the ride-hailing startup. 

“During the journey, we reached a remote area with no other vehicles around. Shockingly, the driver began riding with one hand and engaging in inappropriate behavior (Masturbating while riding the bike). Fearing for my safety, I remained silent throughout the ordeal,” she tweeted. 

Purushothaman also raised concerns over steps taken by Rapido to ensure background verification of the drivers, urging the platform to ensure that user safety is a top priority. 

Meanwhile, Bengaluru Police has taken cognisance of the matter, and has directed its personnel to take necessary action in the matter. 

On the other hand, Rapido is yet to issue any statement on the matter. Inc42 has reached out to the company for a comment, and this story will be updated with a statement when it is received. 

The victim also raised a slew of other issues with the bike-hailing platform. She alleged that the accused driver, in question, arrived on a different bike than what was shown on the app. 

“Surprisingly, the driver arrived on a different bike, explaining that the one registered with @rapidobikeapp  was under servicing. I confirmed my booking through his app and proceeded with the ride,” added Purushothaman.

Fearing for her safety, the alleged victim is said to have asked the driver to drop her 200 metres away from her actual destination to conceal her home address. Even after the incident took place, the driver, as per Purushothaman, kept calling and messaging her on WhatsApp. 

“I had to block his number to stop the harassment… @rapidobikeapp, what measures are you taking for background verification? Your users’ safety should be a top priority. Please ensure that people registered with your service can be trusted for a safe travel experience. He keeps calling me from different numbers even now!,” she tweeted.

She also shared a screenshot of the conversation where the driver can be seen messaging the victim with inappropriate messages such as ‘Love you.’

A Shoddy Record

Meanwhile, the incident has once again shone the spotlight on a rising number of similar cases involving Rapido drivers. Just three months back in April, a woman jumped off a moving bike to avoid a molestation attempt in Bengaluru. The case also involved a Rapido driver.

In November 2022, a 22-year old woman from Kerala was raped in Bengaluru by two persons, including a Rapido driver. The driver was then delisted from the platform, but it later emerged that the accused already had a criminal case against him in the past. 

While Rapido claims to have a ‘zero tolerance policy’ towards violence or indecent behaviour, critics have flagged the accessibility of Rapido customer care post the completion of the ride, which is when most victims come forward. 

Not just Rapido, other ride-hailing platforms have also been in dock for similar cases. In June, an Uber autorickshaw driver was arrested after he tried to molested and attempted to rape an IT professional in Pune. In March, a woman was allegedly molested by an Ola bike driver in Hyderabad.

The case has once again raised eyebrows over the norms in place at these ride-hailing companies for the background verification of its drivers. It also raised questions over the safety of women passengers during journeys undertaken via such platforms.

With the ride-hailing space expected to grow further in coming years, it remains to be seen whether these ride-hailing app crack the whip on erring drivers and institute strict norms to curb such instances. 

The post Bengaluru Woman Accuses Rapido Driver Of Sexual Harassment appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai transport authorities have reportedly raised red flags against four cab aggregators, including Ola and Uber, for flouting certain provisions of the union government’s Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2020.

“The companies are not complying with the guidelines pertaining to payment of security deposit, installation of simulators for driver training, driver medical check-up, and certificates of drivers, among others,” a transport official told PTI.

Subsequently, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) has roped in the state government for ‘guidance’ after the former undertook checks to see if the ride-hailing apps complied with the norms. 

The decision to take the state government into the loop came during an MMRTA meeting chaired by the Maharashtra transport secretary, who also heads the agency. During the meeting, the senior official directed the MMRTA to seek the state cabinet’s counsel on the matter.

Per the report, the MMRTA has now issued a diktat that all such licence applications be now routed through the state government for guidance.

It is pertinent to note that the Supreme Court, earlier this year, directed all app-based aggregators to apply for a licence by March 6 to operate in Maharashtra. Nearing the expiration of the deadline, the MMRTA granted provisional licences to ride-hailing apps, provided they comply with the centre’s mandates. 

As the applicants started trickling in, local officials conducted checks across the region to verify if the players were adhering to the norms. As per the report, all four applicants were found non-compliant with Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2020. 

While, Uber India and ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola, applied for cab aggregator licence at Tardeo RTO, two other players, namely Cab-age Infra Tech and Media Miles, submitted their applications at Wadala RTO and Thane RTO, respectively.

This comes a couple of months after the Maharashtra government constituted a six-member panel, under the chairmanship of retired additional chief secretary Sudhir Kumar Shrivastava, to frame the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Aggregator Rules to regulate ride-hailing apps in the state. 

While the report of the panel is expected latest by next month, the draft norms could burden the cab aggregators with a slew of norms and obligations to ply on Maharashtra roads. 

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the state government has sparred publicly with such platforms. In January, the Maharashtra government banned bike taxis in the state and directed the platforms to apply for a licence to operate in the state. 

Following suit, the Delhi government also banned bike taxis later in February, citing customer safety and non-compliance by aggregators. With norms in the offing and state authorities tightening their noose, it remains to be seen what course of action these players will take next. For now, the ball appears to be in the court of the local government. 

The post Ola, Uber In Dock As Maharashtra Authorities Flag Non-Compliance To Licence Mandates appeared first on Inc42 Media.