[Funding alert] Electric utility vehicle startup PiBeam raises Rs 5 Cr from GAIL (India)

Pi Beam, a startup engaged in building sustainable and affordable micro-mobility electric vehicles, has raised a bridge round of Rs 5 crore from GAIL (India) Ltd.

Pi Beam builds connected e-vehicles, for two-, three-, and four-wheeler offerings for last-mile logistics, and shared and owned passenger movement. The startup has stated that Pi Beam is also the first Indian company to offer pedal-assisted electric trikes for logistics and passenger movement.

"With this fundraise, Pi Beam has raised a total of $1 million in 2019. Previously, Pi Beam has raised capital from Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, Keiretsu Forum, and industry leading HNIs. The fresh capital raised will be used for expanding product portfolio and ramping up sales," says Visakh Sasikumar Founder and CEO of Pi Beam, which was initially incubated at IIT Madras.

Currently, the startup's products are used by the Greater Chennai Corporation for waste management, Fortune 500 companies for hyperlocal delivery and large advertising companies for outdoor advertising. Taking inspiration from the 'Make in India' campaign, Pi Beam has focused on developing and manufacturing Indian made components in their products.

If you visit Delhi, you will see electric autorickshaws plying the road. Today, there are close to a million electric vehicles (EVs) in the northern parts of India, with 6,50,000 autorickshaws having being sold in FY 2019 alone. However, these are autorickshaws that have little design elements to accommodate batteries aesthetically and their life cycle is not more than three years as their batteries are depleted due to continuous charging. Moreover, they are used only for passengers.

So companies like PiBeam and Euler Motors are going after the B2B indusry in mobilty.

Euler Motors has raised $2 million from Blume Ventures and Emergent Ventures and will release its EVs by next year.

There are more than 10.5 million LCVs in India, but by taking the EV road, Pi Beam and Euler wants to solve for last-mile logistics in a sustainable manner.

(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)

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