We started Yulu with the vision of making urban mobility shared, smart, seamless, safe and sustainable. On our journey, like is the case with any journey on an uncharted path, we met with many expected and unexpected challenges. And, with our team’s passion and enthusiasm we not only kept the wheels turning through thick and thin, but actually accelerated ahead when the going got tough. Our recent funding, which also happens to be the year’s 3rd highest in the mobility space, will now help us take our promise to more people and places.
What Drove the Fundraise?
Our new and existing investors’ long-term belief in Yulu underpinned this funding round that saw an infusion of $82 mn (Rs 653 Cr). Raising a capital of this quantum in a tough funding climate highlights 2 things
- There is still appetite for resilient and innovative businesses in the investment community
- Affordable and accessible shared mobility has promising use-cases with huge growth potential
Another matter of pride for us is that our investors, global automotive giants Magna International and Bajaj Auto, are not only backing us in financial capacity, but are also deepening their ties with us as strategic partners to further India’s EV ambitions. As India heads to its promise of net zero emissions and a sustainable future, Yulu with its partners envisages to be at the forefront of this mission.
What’s the Plan?
Yulu is India’s market leader in shared electric 2-wheeler Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) businesses. Our vision is to have 100X growth in both the MaaS and BaaS segments in the next 3-4 years. With this funding, our immediate goal is to increase our EV fleet to 1 lac+ vehicles in the next 12 months, and concurrently expand our BaaS network to 500+ Battery charging & swapping stations.
One of the common queries that we get from across the country (and sometimes, from other countries as well 😀) is when will Yulu come to my pincode. This fundraise gives renewed vigor to our aspiration to expand to more cities. We are happy to announce that we will not only be deepening our presence in the existing cities of Bengaluru , Mumbai and Delhi, but are looking forward to having a presence in many other leading cities of India.
So, in the coming months, keep your fingers crossed, we could be in your city next!
Battery Swapping – a catalyst & an opportunity
A pioneer in the EV space, we wanted to make EVs accessible, available and affordable and that’s where Battery-as-a-Service became a strategic extension of our business. BaaS reduces the upfront cost of buying EVs, eliminates charging down-time and accelerates the adoption of electric mobility in India. Yulu’s AI-enabled battery swapping stations Max Network has achieved 3.5 million+ battery swaps to date becoming a pioneer in the segment. As a next step to unlocking our BaaS potential and giving India’s budding EV base virtually unlimited range, Yulu will be forming a subsidiary with Magna to create India’s leading BaaS platform that will be capable of 30 Lakh battery swaps per day. We will open up the network for EVs from other manufacturers as well in the near future – creating a new business opportunity.
Partnerships to move everyone forward
Our successful partnership with Bajaj Auto continues to go strong. Over the years, Yulu and Bajaj have been closely collaborating on Product Design, Technology Platforms, Engineering Processes and Manufacturing. Yulu’s third generation of electric 2 wheelers (an EV we anticipate to be a game changer in the mobility space!) will roll out of Bajaj’s Pune facility onto Indian roads in a few months.
Along with this, our new partner Magna will play a crucial role in the development of Yulu’s battery swapping network and charging infrastructure, and help propel mobility to a future of innovative solutions. We can’t wait for you to see and experience them as we tie the two ends of the e-mobility ecosystem in India.
Partnership with government bodies, city authorities, civic bodies and state agencies in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi have been instrumental in helping us bring our services to a wide base of users. We will continue strengthening these partnerships & rewriting the design of mobility in urban spaces.
The Road Ahead
Our journey has been about making mobility accessible through innovation, technology and finding pathbreaking solutions to people’s changing needs. Every challenge offers an opportunity for growth and we emerged from the pandemic not only with a stronger core business but also opened up new business channels, and in the process enabled a sustainable means of livelihood for thousands of people. Consumers are showing growing preference for pay-per-use vs asset ownership across categories and that’s where vertically integrated shared mobility (MaaS) and Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) hold a lot of promise for transforming mobility.
This promise is further exemplified by the fast-growing gig delivery segment where tens of thousands of gig workers use Yulu to fulfill 4 million green deliveries every month, and have a sustainable means of livelihood. On the other hand, millions of everyday users have Yulu-ed for running errands, beating the traffic, getting to work on time or just for fun! Together saving over 15,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions till date along the way.
Now, as Yulu forges a new future of growth, inclusivity and sustainability, we call you to join us in envisioning EVs anew.