[Funding alert] Oye Rickshaw raises Rs 24 Cr from Alteria Capital to expand EV energy infra

Electric vehicle energy solutions firm Oye Rickshaw on Monday said it has raised Rs 24 crore from Alteria Capital to expand smart lithium-ion batteries swapping stations across India.

The startup has 15 active battery swapping stations which it plans to expand to 650 across Delhi-NCR and five more cities by December 2021, Oye Rickshaw founder Mohit Sharma told PTI.

"Our e-rickshaw partners are able to run 20-30 percent more on a daily basis. We want to facilitate our rickshaw partner to have more deliveries. More kilometers means more revenue for them. We are expanding infrastructure in a manner to create a network," Sharma said.

With the fresh funding round, the company has raised total of Rs 84 crore.

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Oye! Rickshaw launches battery swapping platform, aims to deploy 10,000 lithium-ion batteries

"We have an operating revenue of Rs 15 lakh per month. After deployment of a total of 650 swapping stations we expect it to reach Rs 5 crore operating revenue per month. We expect to fund future expansion from internal accruals," Sharma said.

Oye Rickshaw has earlier raised around Rs 60 crore from investors such as Chiratae Ventures, Matrix Partners, Xiaomi, and Pawan Munjal group.

The startup estimates e-rickshaw battery swapping market in India to reach over Rs 29,000 crore by 2025 and the company wants to be the dominant player in the segment, Sharma said.

In March 2021, the startup announced the launch of its battery swapping platform targeting to deploy 10,000 lithium-ion batteries by the end of this year.

The company, which started a battery swapping pilot project in December 2020, said it has crossed one lakh swap kilometres in under three months.

Commenting on the launch of the platform, Oye Rickshaw Founder Mohit Sharma said, "By introducing swapping, we are significantly reducing downtime of our e-rickshaws and thus adding more commute hours for customers and more money into the pockets of our driver-partners. This marks the beginning of a journey towards becoming a major connected electric vehicle player focused on mass micro-mobility."

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context.)