[Funding alert] EV experience platform Blive raises $1 M in pre-Series A round

BLive, an EV experience platform, on Wednesday announced a fund raise of $1 million, part of follow-on capital of Pre-Series A round. The funding, which was a combination of debt and equity, was led by LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO Angel Networkand Credit Wise Capital.

Shanti Mohan, Founder, LetsVenture, said,

“With India’s potential to be the next EV market leader of the world, we want to ensure that we support startups like BLive, who provide a completely unique way to users of experiencing and owning two-wheeler EVs. Boost in domestic travel and growth in the EV category presents BLive a great opportunity to grow and expand to bigger markets.”

The company had previously raised funds led by a strategic investment from DNA Networks in September 2019.

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WATCH: Goa-based startup BLive is wheeling in change with e-cycles and India’s first EV tourism initiative

In a short span of time, Blive EV Tours has expanded to 15 cities across nine states in India, and has completed over 10000 eBike tours so far. Driven by the increase in domestic tourism post-pandemic, the startup claims to have seen a 3x growth in its eBike tours.

Founded in 2018 by Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, BLive offers experiential, guided tours on electric bikes with an aim to promote sustainable tourism in India. It is the official EV tourism partner of Goa Tourism. The company has partnered with hospitality partners like – Club Mahindra, Taj Hotels, Grand Hyatt, Airbnb to name a few.

In 2020, BLive launched an online EV marketplace offering brands of e-cycles and e-scooters. Brands like Hero Electric, Ampere, Hero Lectro, Go Zero and Lightspeed are available on the BLive store. It recently started an ‘Exchange and Upgrade Program' that is aimed to promote the adoption of electric vehicles. Two-wheeler petrol vehicle owners can exchange their existing fuel dependent two-wheelers and upgrade to a new electric vehicle. The EV store has already delivered to customers in over 25 cities in less than three months of online store launch.

Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, Co-founders, BLive, said,

“At Blive, we want to reduce all hurdles for consumers to transition to Electric Mobility, whether it is with EV tours where consumers are getting a first-hand experience of EVs or our EV store, where we seamlessly guide consumers through choice, expertise and convenience of ownership. This year, we are looking at growing the EV tours to over 30+ locations and adding more two-wheeler EV brands and ownership models to the EV store through both online and offline channels.”