Bajaj Auto, Magna increase stakes in Yulu
Returning investors Bajaj Auto and Magna have invested $19.25 million in shared electric mobility company Yulu as part of Series B round of funding. Yulu is also in talks to raise a Series C equity round.
Bengaluru-based shared electric mobility company has raised $19.25 million in an equity round from returning investors Canadian auto-parts manufacturer Magna and Bajaj Auto Limited as continuation of its Series B round.
The startup had last raised $82 million as part of its Series B round in 2022 from the same set of investors, followed by $9.1 million in debt from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
The additional capital will be utilised by Yulu to strengthen its market leadership, expanding the number of vehicles, operational location and to back product and technology innovation.
“Yulu has seen demand speeding up in the last couple of quarters. In particular, our shared EV services have transformed the urban delivery landscape by increasing the share of green deliveries while enabling livelihoods through disruptive product features, technology-powered operations, and a superior customer experience,” Amit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Yulu said in a statement issued by the company.
He added that the company was on track to raise Series C round of funding and was looking to open up new use cases and geographies.
Founded in 2017 by Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri and Anuj Tweari, Yulu currently deploys 30,000 electric vehicles across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Delhi and Gurugram. In February 2023, Yulu, in partnership with Magna, launched battery swapping network Yuma Energy as a joint venture. Yuma offers Battery-as-a-Service to Yulu’s own fleet and other OEMs.
“Bajaj and Yulu enjoy a strategic partnership and our role extends to beyond being a financial investor. We see very good potential in the space of shared and last mile mobility. Hence, together we continue to leverage our combined expertise in consumer knowledge, technology, and manufacturing to build a class-leading business in this space,” said Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director - Bajaj Auto in the statement.
The current round of funding takes the total amount of funding raised by Yulu to around 124.5 million according to market research and data platform Tracxn. Yulu was valued at $182 million as of September 2022.
Yulu reported a 40% increase in revenue for FY23 from year-ago period at Rs 42.8 crore while its losses widened to Rs 95 crore due to increase in operational expenses.
Edited by Megha Reddy