Tapanjana Rudra, Author at Inc42 Media https://inc42.com/author/tapanjana-rudra/ India’s #1 Startup Media & Intelligence Platform Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:53:20 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 https://inc42.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=75/https://asset.inc42.com/2021/09/cropped-inc42-favicon-1-32x32.png Tapanjana Rudra, Author at Inc42 Media https://inc42.com/author/tapanjana-rudra/ 32 32 RBI Proposes New Framework On Additional Factor Of Authentication For Digital Payments https://inc42.com/buzz/rbi-proposes-new-framework-on-additional-factor-of-authentication-for-digital-payments/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:53:20 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=471066 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed alternate methods of additional factor of authentication (AFA) for digital transactions, including…]]>

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed alternate methods of additional factor of authentication (AFA) for digital transactions, including PIN, passwords, cards, and biometrics such as fingerprints, among others.

The central bank’s draft “Framework on Alternative Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions” released on Wednesday (July 31) aims to widen the choice of authentication factors available to payment system operators and users. 

“Over the years, the Reserve Bank of India has prioritised security of digital payments, in particular the requirement of Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) for making payments. No specific factor was mandated for authentication, but the digital payments ecosystem has primarily adopted SMS-based OTP as AFA. While OTP is working satisfactorily, technological advancements have made available alternative authentication mechanisms,” said the RBI.

An AFA requires the use of more than one factor for authentication of a payment instruction.

The release of the draft framework is in line with the central bank’s announcement in February to adopt a principle-based “Framework for authentication of digital payment transactions” for digital security.

The central bank terms any credential input by the customer that is verified for the purpose of confirming the originator of a payment instruction as the factor of authentication. These factors are broadly categorised as something the user knows (such as password, passphrase, PIN), something the user has (such as card hardware or software token), and something the user is (such as fingerprint or any other form of biometrics).

The central bank has proposed that all digital payment transactions, other than card present transactions, ensure that one of the factors of authentication is created dynamically. This means that the factor should be generated after initiation of payment, be specific to the transaction, and cannot be reused.

It said that the issuers –  bank or non-bank where the customer’s account is maintained – can decide the appropriate AFA for a transaction based on the risk profile of the customer and/ or beneficiary, transaction value, channel of origination, among others.

The following transactions will be exempted from customer authentication: 

  • Small value card present transactions for values up to INR 5,000 per transaction in contactless mode at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals. 
  • Transactions in respect of subscription to mutual funds, payment of insurance premiums, and credit card bill payments up to certain values 
  • Digital toll payments
  • Offline payment transactions up to a value of INR 500

The RBI has sought comments and feedback on the draft framework by September 15, 2024.

“All Payment System Providers and Payment System Participants (banks and non-banks) shall ensure compliance with this framework within three months from the date of issue of these directions,” the central bank said.

The development comes at a time when the number of digital transactions as well as digital frauds are on the rise in the country. A recent report by Amazon Pay said that Indian merchants process 69% of their transactions via digital payments. Meanwhile, the central bank said in its annual report that the number of online frauds in the country surged 334% year-on-year to 29,082 in FY24.

Earlier today, the RBI also proposed tighter norms for Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) touchpoint operators to curb frauds.

The post RBI Proposes New Framework On Additional Factor Of Authentication For Digital Payments appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Unicommerce FY24: Net Profit Doubles To INR 13.1 Cr, Revenue Crosses INR 100 Cr Mark https://inc42.com/buzz/unicommerce-fy24-net-profit-doubles-to-inr-13-1-cr-revenue-crosses-inr-100-cr-mark/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:36:10 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=471060 IPO-bound Unicommerce’s net profit more than doubled to INR 13.1 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 6.5…]]>

IPO-bound Unicommerce’s net profit more than doubled to INR 13.1 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 6.5 Cr reported in the previous year.

The startup, backed by AceVector (formerly Snapdeal), saw its revenue from contracts with customers or operating revenue rise 15% to INR 103.58 Cr in the reported fiscal as against INR 90.06 Cr in FY23.

In that, revenue from contracts with customers outside India increased over 54% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 3.8 Cr.

Total income stood at INR 109.4 Cr in FY24 as against around INR 93 Cr in the previous fiscal.

Unicommerce said in its red herring prospectus (RHP) that the growth of revenue from contracts with customers and annual recurring revenue (ARR) was possible as its revenue model is based on a transaction fee and a monthly minimum commitment for enterprise clients. 

“Our pricing and billing model allows us to earn revenue on incremental transactions processed by our clients, allowing us to grow revenues as volumes on our platform increase,” the startup said.

However, it is also pertinent to note that its ARR witnessed a marginal decline of 0.8% YoY in FY24 to INR 106 Cr.

Founded in 2012, Unicommerce is an ecommerce SaaS startup that enables end-to-end management of ecommerce operations for brands, sellers and logistics service provider firms. It was acquired by Snapdeal in 2015, but the latter sold 30% of its stake in Unicommerce to SoftBank later.

The startup said that for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, it had an annual run-rate of processing 791.63 Mn order items for 795 enterprise clients and 2,707 SMB clients.

Unicommerce’s RHP said that it was the largest ecommerce enablement SaaS platform in transaction processing in terms of revenue in FY21, FY22, and FY23, while also being the only profitable entity in this segment among the top five players. Increff, Vinculum, Browntape, and Easyecom are among the other players in the top five.

Zooming Into Expenses

Unicommerce’s total expenses rose over 9% to INR 91.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 84.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year, with employee benefit expenses continuing to account for the largest portion. 

Employee Cost: The startup’s employee benefit expenses increased 4.7% to INR 64.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 62 Cr in FY23. 

It accounted for 70.64% of the company’s total expenses in FY24, a decline from 73.74% in FY23.

Unicommerce spent INR 57.4 Cr towards salaries, wages and bonuses, while INR 3.7 Cr was spent on share-based payment expenses in FY23.

Server Hosting Expense: Unicommerce’s spending under this head saw a marginal increase of 0.2% YoY to INR 5.41 Cr in FY24.

While the increase in this expense was low in FY24, Unicommerce saw a significant 65.84% YoY increase in server hosting expense in FY23. The startup said that this rise was primarily due to an increase in the use of its platform and in items processed during this period.

Advertisement and Publicity Expense: Unicommerce’s ad expenses witnessed a 3.4% YoY decline to INR 3.8 Cr during the year under review. 

Legal and Professional Charges: The company spent INR 3.9 Cr in this bucket in FY24 as against INR 93 Lakh in the previous fiscal.

The public issue of Unicommerce comprises only an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 2.56 Cr equity shares. Its IPO will open for subscription on August 6 and close on August 8. 

Besides Unicommerce, the IPOs of Ola Electric and FirstCry will also open this month. A number of new-age tech startups have gone public in the first seven months of 2024, and this number is expected to increase further amid the IPO boom.

The post Unicommerce FY24: Net Profit Doubles To INR 13.1 Cr, Revenue Crosses INR 100 Cr Mark appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
FirstCry FY24: Loss Narrows 34%, Revenue Crosses INR 6K Cr Mark Ahead Of IPO https://inc42.com/buzz/firstcry-fy24-loss-narrows-34-revenue-crosses-inr-6k-cr-mark-ahead-of-ipo/ Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:50:01 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470801 IPO-bound omnichannel marketplace FirstCry reported an almost 34% decline in consolidated net loss of INR 321.5 Cr in the financial…]]>

IPO-bound omnichannel marketplace FirstCry reported an almost 34% decline in consolidated net loss of INR 321.5 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 486 Cr in the previous fiscal.

The startup’s operating revenue increased 15% to INR 6,480.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 5,632.5 Cr in FY23.

The metrics are in sharp contrast to the company’s 500% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net loss and 135% YoY rise in the top line in FY23.

Founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry is an omnichannel baby and kids marketplace. It earns revenue from sale of traded goods, loyalty points programmes, internet display charges, royalty and sales of student kits to franchisee schools, among others.

FirstCry filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI in December last year. However, it withdrew the draft paper earlier this year and refiled it in April. As per its DRHP, in the first nine months of FY24, it clocked sales of INR 4,814 Cr and incurred a loss of INR 278.2 Cr. 

FirstCry is aiming to raise INR 1,816 Cr through a fresh issue of shares in its public offering. Its IPO will also comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 5.4 Cr equity shares.

The startup is set to go public as a loss-making entity despite the public markets looking at profitability as one of the key factors for subscribing to new IPOs.

As per a report, FirstCry is likely to file its red herring prospectus (RHP) this week.

Where Did FirstCry Spend In FY24?

FirstCry’s total expenses rose over 9% to INR 6,896.6 Cr during the year under review from INR 6,315.7 Cr in FY23.

FirstCry's Loss Narrows, Revenue Crosses INR 6K Cr Mark In FY24

Purchases Of Stock-In-Trade: This bucket accounted for a significant 56.4% of the startup’s total spending during the year. FirstCry’s spending here jumped almost 25% YoY to INR 3,889.9 Cr in FY24.

Cost Of Materials Consumed: It spent INR 557.5 Cr towards cost of materials in FY24 as against INR 479.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Employee Cost: The startup managed to control its spending towards employee benefit expenses during the year. It spent INR 686.5 Cr under the head in FY24 as against INR 769.8 Cr in FY23 due to a decline in ESOP expenses.

Its employee share-based payment – equity settled more than halved YoY to INR 178 Cr in FY24.

Ad Expense: FirstCry spent INR 482.2 Cr towards advertising and promotional expenses in FY24, which increased about 16% YoY.

Cost Transportation: The startup’s spending in this bucket increased over 27% YoY to INR 545.7 Cr.

The post FirstCry FY24: Loss Narrows 34%, Revenue Crosses INR 6K Cr Mark Ahead Of IPO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Nykaa Hits 52-Week High By Jumping 10% Intraday; Closes At INR 200 https://inc42.com/buzz/nykaa-hits-52-week-high-by-jumping-10-intraday-closes-at-inr-200/ Tue, 30 Jul 2024 12:42:18 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470728 Shares of fashion and beauty ecommerce major Nykaa jumped as much as 10.4% to touch a 52-week high at INR…]]>

Shares of fashion and beauty ecommerce major Nykaa jumped as much as 10.4% to touch a 52-week high at INR 202 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Tuesday (July 30).

The stock shed some of the gains by the end of the trading session and ended the day 9.3% higher at INR 200. Nykaa shares had last closed at this level in mid-November of 2022, the year it made the stock market debut (adjusted for stock split).

The stock witnessed a significant rise in volume during today’s session, with 6 Cr shares traded cumulatively on the BSE and the NSE.

After seeing some corrections and trading sideways for a while, Nykaa shares have been on an uptrend since the beginning of June this year. The shares have been rising since last week after Nykaa said it would raise INR 125 Cr (about $15 Mn) via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from an undisclosed foreign portfolio investor for Nykaa E- Retail Limited.

After the announcement on June 22, shares of Nykaa rose almost 5% in four trading sessions to cross the INR 180 mark.

The stock has gained 15% year to date.

The startup said last month that it is expected to post a strong revenue growth of around 22-23% year-on-year in Q1 FY25, with gross merchandise value (GMV) rising in the mid-twenties percentage range during the period.

JM Financial raised its price target on Nykaa to INR 230 from INR 220 earlier, after the company held its investor day last month.

“Despite the muted demand environment in FY24, Nykaa did gain market share across online BPC (beauty and personal care) and Fashion, suggesting strong brand affinity as well as the benefits of Nykaa’s attempts at category expansion. While Superstore as well as international expansion is likely to require investments and hence would impact near-term margin, the company would accrue benefits from a larger BPC and Fashion business,” said the brokerage.

Meanwhile, ICICI Securities upgraded the stock to ‘add’ from ‘hold’, raising the target to INR 195 from INR 175 earlier.

Currently, 14 out of the 23 analysts covering Nykaa have a ‘buy’ or higher rating, with an average price target of INR 192.87.

The post Nykaa Hits 52-Week High By Jumping 10% Intraday; Closes At INR 200 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
IndiaMART Q1: Profit Jumps 37% YoY To Cross INR 100 Cr Mark; Operating Revenue Up 17% https://inc42.com/buzz/indiamart-q1-profit-jumps-37-yoy-to-cross-inr-100-cr-mark-operating-revenue-up-17/ Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:52:36 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470688 B2B marketplace IndiaMART InterMESH posted a 37.3% rise in its consolidated net profit to INR 114 Cr in the June…]]>

B2B marketplace IndiaMART InterMESH posted a 37.3% rise in its consolidated net profit to INR 114 Cr in the June quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 83 Cr in the same period last year.

The company’s operating revenue grew 17.4% to INR 331.3 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 282.1 Cr in Q1 FY24.

IndiaMART’s revenue from web and related services increased at the same rate, 17.4% year-on-year (YoY), to INR 315.6 Cr in Q1 FY25, while revenue from accounting software services rose 16.3% YoY to INR 15.7 Cr.

Its web and related services revenue comes from providing a platform for online B2B marketplace to discover products and services and connect with the suppliers of such products and services.

The company said in a statement that its collections from customers grew 14% to INR 366 Cr during the quarter, which primarily comprised standalone collections of INR 341 Cr and Busy Infotech’s collections of INR 24 Cr.

Meanwhile, its deferred revenue as on June 30, 2024 stood at INR 1,474 Cr, growing 23% YoY. This primarily includes IndiaMART’s standalone deferred revenue and some for Busy Infotech.

It is pertinent to note that earlier this year, IndiaMART approved a scheme of amalgamation amongst its three wholly-owned subsidiaries – Busy Infotech Private Limited (transferor company 1), Hello Trade Online Private Limited (transferor company 2), and Tolexo Online Private Limited (transferee company). 

IndiaMART disclosed in its Q1 FY25 earnings filing that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) pronounced the first motion petition order for the scheme on July 3, 2024 and the second motion hearing held on July 26, 2024. Given that the scheme will become effective on filling of the NCLT order with the Registrar of Companies, the financial impact of the scheme is not incorporated in the consolidated financial results of the group for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, it said.

Emphasising the company’s steady growth in revenue and deferred revenue, along with expansion in operating margin, IndiaMART CEO Dinesh Agarwal said, “On the back of strong balance sheet and sustained cash flows, we will continue to make investments to further strengthen our value proposition, improving customer experience and leveraging growth opportunities.” 

“We are confident of the sustained long term profitable growth as more and more businesses adopt (the) internet to grow themselves,” he added.

IndiaMART’s total expenses increased a mere 3.5% to INR 221.9 Cr in Q1 FY25 from INR 214.4 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Employee expenses continued to be the biggest expense head for the company, growing 15.2% to INR 143.2 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 124.3 Cr in Q1 FY24.

Its total paying suppliers count stood at 216K, witnessing a 4% rise YoY, while the Indian supplier storefront increased 5% YoY to 8 Mn in Q1.

Ahead of the earnings announcement on Tuesday (July 30), shares of IndiaMART ended the trading session 3.3% higher at INR 3,146.55 on the BSE.

The post IndiaMART Q1: Profit Jumps 37% YoY To Cross INR 100 Cr Mark; Operating Revenue Up 17% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
IIFL Fintech Fund Picks Up 10% Stake In GenAI Startup Vitra.ai https://inc42.com/buzz/iifl-fintech-fund-picks-up-10-stake-in-genai-startup-vitra-ai/ Tue, 30 Jul 2024 08:56:12 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470615 IIFL Fintech Fund has invested an undisclosed amount of funding in Vitra.ai to pick up a 10% stake in the…]]>

IIFL Fintech Fund has invested an undisclosed amount of funding in Vitra.ai to pick up a 10% stake in the Gen AI startup.

Founded in 2020 by Satvik Jagannath and Akash Nidhi PS, Vitra.ai specialises in advanced language translation, helping creators and businesses leverage the power of GenAI to translate videos, images, podcasts and text to over 75 languages in just one click. 

The startup was incubated by Google India. It was a part of the tech major’s seventh cohort of Google for Startups Accelerator. 

As per IIFL Group’s statement, Vitra.ai will use the fresh funds to further develop its GenAI technology and expand its business to newer geographies.

“With the new funding round, we are poised to advance our capabilities and deliver innovative solutions that bridge language barriers more effectively than ever before. Our technology will connect with customers globally,” said Jagannath, founder of Vitra.ai.

The startup has built its patented technology model to help revolutionise the way language translation is approached and delivered on a global scale.  

Vitra.ai’s GenAI technology offers multiple features, including contextual precision, real-time translation, and adaptive learning. Its advanced algorithms grasp and translate complex meanings, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances, ensuring translations are both accurate and contextually appropriate.

Mehekka Oberoi, fund manager at IIFL Fintech Fund, said, “Our decision to invest in this Generative AI startup underscores our dedication to supporting startups at the forefront of technological innovation.”

“Generative AI represents a transformative opportunity to push the boundaries of what’s possible and create solutions that are not only efficient but also deeply intelligent and adaptive. Language translation for all marketing content is becoming the need of the hour to reach out to all customers,” Oberoi added.

Vitra.ai earlier raised around $571K from its investors, which includes 100X.VC and Inflexor Ventures. 

The startup is already working with large Indian companies including IIFL, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Swiggy, and Zepto for their language translation needs. 

IIFL said that the language translation segment is worth $20 Bn to $25 Bn currently, which includes both human translation services and machine translation technologies. GenAI language translation is expected to be the fastest-growing sub-segment in this industry. 

As per Inc42’s analysis, India’s GenAI market is expected to leapfrog to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030. 

The post IIFL Fintech Fund Picks Up 10% Stake In GenAI Startup Vitra.ai appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
ideaForge Q1: PAT Nosedives 94% YoY To INR 1.2 Cr, Revenue Slips 11.2% https://inc42.com/buzz/ideaforge-q1-pat-nosedives-94-yoy-to-inr-1-2-cr-revenue-slips-11-2/ Mon, 29 Jul 2024 14:45:59 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470495 Drone manufacturer ideaForge reported an almost 94% decline in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 1.2 Cr in the…]]>

Drone manufacturer ideaForge reported an almost 94% decline in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 1.2 Cr in the March quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 18.9 Cr in the previous year’s quarter, hurt by lower revenue and surging in spending towards cost of materials.

On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the startup’s PAT declined almost 87% from INR 10.3 Cr in the preceding quarter – Q4 FY24.

ideaForge’s operating revenue fell 11.2% to INR 86.2 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 97.1 Cr in Q1 FY24. On a QoQ basis, it declined 15.7%.

The drone startup’s EBITDA stood at INR 8.5 Cr in Q1 FY25 as against INR 32 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

ideaforge q1

Despite the degrowth in the bottom line and top line, ideaForge CEO Ankit Mehta said, “We witnessed the fructification of many of our initiatives in the first quarter of the year. We made significant progress on our diversification initiatives. The paid PoC (proof of concept) agreements with prominent enterprise customers for Drone as a Service (DaaS) are a validation of our efforts and vision for the future of this technology. We are confident that in times to come DaaS will drive technology adoption and will prove to be instrumental in demand generation.”

In its Q1 FY25 presentation to the investors, ideaForge said that prototyping for fog penetration radar with spacetech startup GalaxEye is currently underway. It is pertinent to note that it recently made an equity investment in the GalaxEye.

Besides, ideaForge has developed next-gen payloads with onboard AI computing capabilities while also successfully carrying out high-altitude trials of its drones in the Himalayas, the company said.

“The successful completion of the Early Adopter Program (EAP) with various customers in the US and their positive feedback are indications towards confirmed orders from that geography. This will also provide momentum to our endeavour of capturing the market share globally,” said Mehta.

Meanwhile, ideaForge was granted five new patents in Q1 FY25, it said. It also achieved AS9100:D and ISO 27001:2022 certifications during the period.

Where Did ideaForge Spend?

In line with its business development initiatives, the startup’s total expenses increased 20% to INR 90.6 Cr in Q1 FY25 from INR 75.5 Cr in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Cost of Materials Consumed: The drone manufacturer spent the highest amount under this head. Its spending towards cost of materials surged 321% YoY to INR 56.1 Cr in Q1 FY25.

Employee Cost: The startup managed to cut its employee benefit expenses by 24.3% YoY to INR 11.7 Cr in the reported quarter.

During the quarter ended June 30, 2024, ideaForge also granted 1.45 Lakh new stock options to eligible employees under its employee stock option scheme. 

ideaForge also said that its product development team augmentation continues through campus and lateral hiring to meet the requirements of the product and technology roadmap.

Ahead of its earnings announcement today, shares of ideaForge ended Monday’s (July 29) training session 3.5% higher at INR 857.7 on the BSE.

The post ideaForge Q1: PAT Nosedives 94% YoY To INR 1.2 Cr, Revenue Slips 11.2% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Ola Electric Sets IPO Price Band At INR 72-76, Aims To Raise Over INR 6,145 Cr https://inc42.com/buzz/ola-electric-sets-ipo-price-band-at-inr-72-76-aims-to-raise-over-inr-6145-cr/ Mon, 29 Jul 2024 08:54:07 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470393 EV mobility startup Ola Electric has set a price band in the range of INR 72-76 per equity share for…]]>

EV mobility startup Ola Electric has set a price band in the range of INR 72-76 per equity share for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), which is opening for bids on Friday (August 2).

The startup is expected to raise over INR 6,145.6 Cr at the upper price band.

Ola Electric’s public offer comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 5,500 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 8.49 Cr shares worth INR 645.6 Cr. The company’s IPO will close on August 6. 

The anchor bidding is starting on August 1. The bid lot of the IPO is 195 shares and in multiples of the same thereafter. 

Its IPO will have 75% allocation towards qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 10% towards retail, and 15% towards the non-institutional investor (NII) category.

The buzz around Ola Electric’s IPO plans started early last year. In December 2023, the startup filed its IPO draft papers with the SEBI. Initially, the public issue comprised a fresh issue of shares worth INR 5,500 Cr and OFS component of up to 9.51 Cr shares. However, the OFS amount was lowered in its RHP.

Kotak Mahindra, Citigroup, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, and ICICI Securities are some of lead the book runners for its IPO.

Speaking during the IPO launch announcement, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, said, “We don’t focus our energies into ICE or other transitionary technologies like hybrid, etc, but our singular focus is to create the EV future and to create the entire business model, manufacturing ecosystem that goes with it.” 

The EV two-wheeler maker currently leads the market in terms of market share. Aggarwal also highlighted that the startup is aggressively working on its electric motorcycles.

It is pertinent to note that the startup was also planning to launch its electric car. However, reports emerged recently saying that ahead of its public market debut, the startup has kept its e-car plans on hold.

Speaking on this topic on Monday (July 29), Aggarwal said, “We have not made any formal announcement ever, either this way or that way. Our focus is to build the foundations for the EV ecosystem in India. We made a starting point from a product standpoint with the scooter. We are moving to the motorbike. And our immediate focus is on these two-wheeler products and our focus is to build the cell as a foundation layer for any future product, for any company which wants to buy our cells.”

He also reiterated that the company is eyeing exports in the long term. 

While Ola Electric’s IPO is one of the biggest by the Indian startups, the company continues to be a loss-making entity.

Its net loss widened 7.6% to INR 1,584.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 1,472.1 Cr in the previous year. Ola Electric’s operating revenue jumped over 90% to INR 5,009.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 2,630.9 Cr in FY23.

Speaking on the profitability aspect, Aggarwal said that the company’s revenue is growing steadily and gross margin also improved in FY24. However, he did not give any timeline for achieving profitability or even EBITDA breakeven.

“If you see manufacturing industries in general, as you grow revenue, you get a lot of operating leverage because your fixed costs don’t scale in line with revenue growth. So, that’s been our story in the last couple of financial years, where as we have grown volumes and we have invested for a higher volume, as we are growing into that capacity, our margins are improving,” said Aggarwal.

The post Ola Electric Sets IPO Price Band At INR 72-76, Aims To Raise Over INR 6,145 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Meet The 17 Semiconductor Startups Powering India’s Technological Prowess https://inc42.com/startups/meet-the-7-semiconductor-startups-powering-indias-technological-prowess/ Mon, 29 Jul 2024 06:42:55 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=445945 With India’s increasing emphasis on technological advancement and self-reliance, the nation has experienced a significant surge in emerging technology startups…]]>

With India’s increasing emphasis on technological advancement and self-reliance, the nation has experienced a significant surge in emerging technology startups over the past decade. 

From the expansion of electric vehicles to the integration of drones and from the ascent of private players in spacetech to a notable influx of private funding in technology, these achievements very well underline the vibrant landscape of India’s tech sector.

Similarly, India’s semiconductor ecosystem has gained substantial momentum, bolstered by the government’s support for fabless chip manufacturing startups, semiconductor design, and packaging companies.

In 2021, the Indian government sanctioned the Semicon India programme, allocating INR 76,000 Cr to provide incentive support to companies engaged in silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors/sensors fabs, and semiconductor packaging and design.

Subsequently, in 2022, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was launched to build a vibrant semiconductor and display ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

The government introduced the ‘Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, which offers financial incentives and design infrastructure support for various stages of semiconductor development and deployment, including Integrated Circuits (ICs), chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems and IP cores, and semiconductor-linked design.

Further, the ‘Make in India’ initiative, aimed at reducing dependence on imported components and bolstering the domestic tech ecosystem, has been a driving force behind these initiatives in recent years.

Presently, India has forged agreements with several global semiconductor manufacturing giants to establish manufacturing facilities in the country. With companies like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron, and Qualcomm making investments in India, alongside the emergence of more venture capital-backed startups, the semiconductor industry in India is poised for further expansion.

Amid all this, the Union Cabinet on February 29 approved the country’s first semiconductor fab to be set up by the Tata Group in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC). 

It is imperative to mention that the country’s bend towards growing its semiconductor ecosystem dates back to 1976 when the then Cabinet of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, granted its assent to the formation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab.

Since then, we have come a long way in fostering India’s semiconductor ambitions. Joining in this endeavour are the country’s new-age tech startups.

As per Inc42’s report, the Indian semiconductor market is expected to reach $150 Bn by 2030, up from $33 Bn in 2023, witnessing a 24% CAGR.     

In this piece, we have tried to compile some of these companies that have the potential to be remembered in the times to come for laying the strong foundation of the country’s impending semiconductor boom.

With that said, here is the list…

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian semiconductor startups in alphabetical order. We will be updating this list periodically if you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com)


AGNIT Semiconductors

Established in 2019, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company focusses on designing and producing GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency applications.

AGNIT’s GaN components find extensive applications in the defence and telecommunication sectors.

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence inked a contract with AGNIT for the design and development of advanced GaN semiconductors, slated for integration into the next generation of wireless transmitters for defence applications, including radars and electronic warfare jammers.

The founding team comprises Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan.

According to the company’s website, AGNIT’s proprietary technology stems from over 15 years of research and development conducted at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.


Aura Semiconductor

Founded in 2011 by Srinath Sridharan, Aura Semiconductor or Aurasemi is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies the industry with mixed-signal IC solutions for various applications. 

The startup specialises in high-performance products for markets, including IoT radios, enterprise timing, and portable audio. 

It makes products in categories such as timing, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power, RF, IoT and sensors. Recently, Nasdaq-listed precision timing company SiTime Corporation acquired all time-related products from Aurasemi.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Aurasemi also has its offices in China, the UK, and the US. Celesta Capital is one of the VC investors in the startup.


Blueberry Semiconductors

Bengaluru-based Blueberry Semiconductors is one of the leading very large scale integration (VLSI) startups in India. It provides solutions and services in niche areas of ASIC/SoC, embedded product engineering supported by ML, industrial IoT and AI.

The 2017-founded startup delivers to clients on their latest and technically advanced projects in industries like aerospace, automotive, defence, AI, 5G, and RAM, among others. Its partners range from Intel and Mahindra to Microsemi and SanDisk.


Chipspirit

Founded in 2018, Chipspirit is a Bengaluru-based services and solutions provider in the semiconductor space.

Its application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design services has a special focus on design and turnkey projects. On the other hand, it also claims to provide fully customisable hardware security solutions.

Chipspirit’s Abhed-1 is a dedicated secure hardware-based offline and online encryption device for transacting classified data over public or open Data networks.

The semiconductor company won the iDEX challenge in March 2019. It is now co-developing its hardware security solutions with Indian Defence under the Centre’s Make-In-India initiative.

As per MeitY’s website, Chipspirit is also one of the beneficiaries of its DLI scheme.


Cientra

Founded in 2015 by Uday Joshi and Sandip Kadtane, Cientra is a semiconductor solutions company, specialising in VLSI, ASIC, FPGA, SoCs, catering to telecom (4G, 5G, IoT), automotive (SDV, ADAS, connectivity, EV) and embedded software.

The semiconductor design solutions of the company include register-transfer level (RTL) design, design verification, physical design, and analogue design and layout offering.

Cientra is a multinational company with offices in India, the USA, and Germany. Last year, the company launched a vendor-agnostic 5G IoT aggregator solution in partnership with Amantya Technologies, which they claimed to be the ‘world’s first’.


FermionIC Design

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based FermionIC Design is a fabless semiconductor startup developing ICs for high-speed wireline and RF communication market. Its current product portfolio includes a highly integrated beamformer core chip in silicon-germanium (SiGe) process that enables the X-band millimetre-wave communications for active electronically scanned array (AESA), sat-comm applications, and others. 

The startup’s mixed signal product family includes ultra-low-noise low dropout (LDO)-ICs, low-phase noise crystal oscillators and Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes) products. 

Founded by Gautam Kumar Singh, Prasun Bhattacharyya, Abhra Bagchi, and Shabaaz Syed,  FermionIC Design has remained bootstrapped so far. It claims to have multiple global and Indian OEM customers who are building their SoCs and systems using FermionIC products. 

Last year, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced FermionIC Design as one of the first set of startups selected under the government’s Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme. 


Incore Semiconductors

Founded in 2018, InCore Semiconductor is building 5th generation RISC/RISC-V processor cores in India. RISC or reduced instruction set computer is a microprocessor architecture that utilises a reduced number of computer instruction types, hence enabling systems to operate at higher speeds. 

InCore, founded by Arjun Menon, Gautam Doshi, GS Madhusudan, and Neel Gala, is headquartered at the IIT Madras Research Park. In 2023, the startup raised $3 Mn from Peak XV Partners.

The startup aims to make India a powerhouse in the RISC-V solution space. Its processor cores power high-performance application-class processors, area/power-optimised embedded processors, and more.

The startup claims to bring a high degree of automation to the processor and SoC design process.


Mindgrove Technologies

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-based semiconductor startup founded in 2021. It works in the space of design and production of SoCs. 

Incubated at IIT Madras, Mindgrove uses the indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips. 

The startup is currently working on its inaugural chip, Secure IoT, which is designed for a range of consumer electronics devices, including TVs, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Its multi-processor chip comes with security accelerators, a true random number generator, and one-time programmable memory.

Founded by Shashwath T R and Sharan Srinivas J, the startup secured $2.32 Mn in seed funding in 2023 led by Peak XV Partners. Its other investors include names like Speciale Invest and Whiteboard Capital. 


Morphing Machines

Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor startup building IP products and solutions. Its patented product ‘REDEFINE’ is a many-core SoC platform, in which domain-specific architectures (DSAs) for mixed critical application tasks are instantiated on demand of any event. DSAs are specialised and optimised hardware designs tailored to specific application domains or industries. 

Its technology serves various industries, including avionics, automobile, and telecom. Besides, ‘REDEFINE’ helps accelerate a host of applications for Big Data Analytics, Genome Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Large Scale Scientific Simulations, and immersive gaming and visualisations.

Morphing Machines has also received projects under the DLI and Chips2Startup (C2S) schemes from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Launched through the Technology Entrepreneurship initiative of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in 2005, Morphing Machines is a bootstrapped startup. Its founders are Dr S.K. Nandy, Dr Ranjani Narayan, and Deepak Shapeti. In June 2024, Morphing Machines secured $2.76 Mn in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest.


Netrasemi

Founded in 2020, Netrasemi is a Kerala-based Edge AI semiconductor technology company building SOCs to enable the new-age need for optimal computing for smart IoT products. Netrasemi has a power-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and a rich portfolio of silicon IPs to enable this. 

Its key target segments are surveillance, smart sensors, smart infrastructure, machine vision and industry 4.0, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, among others.

The company’s domain-specific architecture (DSA), IP-rich SOCs, AI development tools,  flexible SDKs, and platform reference designs help IoT product and solution makers to go to market with cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets catering to their specific domains.

Its A2000 SOC has smart vision capability with advanced real-time video analytics and vision processing capabilities. On the other hand, NETRA-R1000 is a RISC-V-based SOC for smart sensor applications.

Netrasemi is also a beneficiary of the Central government’s DLI scheme.


Oakter

Oakter is an Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), which designs and manufactures electronic smart devices, including fintech giant Paytm’s revolutionary soundboxes.

Launched in 2015 by a founding team from IIT Delhi, the Noida-based Oakter soon became a leading name in the smart plugs market. In 2017, the startup became the launch partner for Amazon Alexa in India. 

In 2019, the startup pivoted to contract manufacturing. Over the years, Oakter fulfilled multiple B2B contract manufacturing orders from the likes of Sony (for its BRAVIA TV), Saregama (for Carvaan), and Syska, among others.

In 2020, Oakter collaborated with DRDO to manufacture Covid safety products.

With the emergence of new-age technologies, the startup has also collaborated with EV charging aggregation platform, ElectricPe, to develop its charge points.

Its early backers include IndiaQuotient and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised over $500K in total funding over the years.


Saankhya Labs

The 2007-founded Saankhya Labs claims to be the country’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company. Based in Bengaluru, the startup manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other components for various satellite and broadcast applications, including 5G New Radio, direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast, rural broadband connectivity, and satellite communication modems for IoT applications.

The startup also claims to have developed the world’s first production Software Defined Radios (SDR) chipsets, which enable converting radio signals into electronic signals and vice versa for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Founded by Parag Naik, Vishwakumara Kayargadde, and Hemant Mallapur, Saankhya Labs is a subsidiary of listed broadband and wireless networking company Tejas Networks. Its former backers included the likes of Intel and General Motors, who exited the company a few years ago.

Recently, in February 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved Saankhya Labs’ application to the Centre’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for the development of a System-on-Chip (SoC) for 5G telecom infrastructure equipment. 

As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised around $18 Mn in total funding. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify the exact amount of funds raised so far.


Sensesemi

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Muktamath, Sensesemi builds the next-generation secured connected AI Edge chip for varied applications in the field of Industrial IoT such as smart appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Its flagship product is named SenseSoC.

By embedding AI capabilities directly onto the chip, it claims to enable edge inferencing, bringing real-time decision-making to the devices.

Sensesemi also won financial support under the Centre’s DLI Scheme earlier this year. 

On winning the government support, company founder Muktamath said, “As part of the DLI Scheme, Sensesemi will be developing the SoC for IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and IoT devices, that shall have MCU and wireless IP integrated with ultra-low power analogue front end with AI inferencing IP.”


SignOff Semiconductors

Founded in 2015, Signoff Semiconductors is one of the pioneering Indian startups in semiconductor design services. 

Involved in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) services, the company has developed in-house capabilities to help customers with the designs of ICs — both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) — that function in the areas of AI, ML, Edge IoT, as well as general-purpose processors.

Signoff claims to serve its clients with a range of services, including physical design, full custom analogue and digital custom layout and verification, register-transfer level (RTL) design, verification, embedded, and firmware.

The semiconductor company has served domains such as automotive, medical, connected edge, and consumer electronics.

Signoff currently has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Toronto, and the US.


Silizium Circuits

Hyderabad-based Silizium Circuits is an analog radio frequency (RF) IP focussed company. It develops indigenous IPs for a range of wireless applications, including 5G, IoT, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), smart mobility, AI, and ML.

Founded in 2020, the startup aims to replace analogue RF IP imports in India with indigenous Silizium Circuits’ IPs by 2025 and become the largest analogue, RF, mixed signal IP exporter from India by 2030.

In 2021, Silizium Circuits became one of the eight NXP FabCI 2021 cohort qualifiers, which is a two-year incubation and acceleration programme.

Founded by Rijin John and Dr Arun Ashok, Silizium Circuits also provides a faculty upskilling programme to guide, train, and upskill the electronics/electrical faculty community in the country. 


Terminus Circuits 

Founded in 2010 by Dr Sankar Reddy, Terminus Circuits designs and develops high-speed serial links, which are a type of communication protocol that transmits data in a single differential signal, enabling data and clocking information to be sent simultaneously.

The startup claims to offer a one-stop solution for all Serialiser/De-Serialiser (SerDes) designing. Besides, ethernet SerDes, it is also a leading provider of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) to OEMs for big data, AI, ML, server chips, and 5G applications.

Terminus Circuits has a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip producers in the world. 


Vervesemi

Incorporated in 2017, Vervesemi is a fabless semiconductor company developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for sensors and wireless devices.

The company has two business verticals – Analog-RF ASIC-Data converters and Analog IPs. It develops products and analogue IP solutions for various semiconductor application markets, including energy, 4G/5G market, medical, consumer, and smart power.

Noida-based Vervesemi currently has two design centres in India. Earlier this year, it announced the launch of India-made semiconductor ASIC.

Last year, MeitY announced Vervesemi among the first set of startups selected under the Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme.

The startup claims to have over 25 patents in its kitty.

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com.


Last updated on July 29, 2024

The post Meet The 17 Semiconductor Startups Powering India’s Technological Prowess appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
IPO-Bound Ola Electric’s FY24 Net Loss Widens To INR 1,584 Cr, Revenue Jumps 90% https://inc42.com/buzz/ipo-bound-ola-electrics-fy24-net-loss-widens-to-inr-1584-cr-revenue-jumps-90/ Sat, 27 Jul 2024 14:35:46 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470235 IPO-bound electric mobility startup Ola Electric’s net loss widened 7.6% to INR 1,584.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24)…]]>

IPO-bound electric mobility startup Ola Electric’s net loss widened 7.6% to INR 1,584.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 1,472.1 Cr in the previous year, even as the startup’s top line continued to surge.

On the back of a robust growth in its vehicle sales, Ola Electric’s operating revenue jumped over 90% to INR 5,009.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 2,630.9 Cr in FY23, as per the company’s red herring prospectus (RHP) filed on July 26.

As an electric two-wheeler manufacturer, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup currently earns all its revenue from sales of its escooters. Its Ola S1 Pro model is currently bringing in the highest amount of revenue.

Meanwhile, the startup also highlighted in its RHP, “In Fiscal 2024, our revenue from the sale of EV scooters was primarily dependent on the sale of Ola S1 Pro scooter models. We cannot assure you that our future revenue from the sale of EV scooters will be more evenly spread across our other EV scooter models.”

Ola S1 Pro, its premium category scooter, contributed almost 60% to the total revenue. Ola S1 Air generated 18.93% of the income, while sales of Ola S1 generated only 2.68% in revenue in FY24 as against 29.36% in the previous year.

Revenue Contribution Breakdown Of Ola Electric's Escooter Models

Despite the public market’s inhibition towards loss-making entities, Ola Electric is set to go public with heavy cash burn and no clarity on its path to profitability. In its RHP, the company noted the following points as part of its forward-looking statement: 

  • We have a limited operating history and there is no assurance we will be cost effective and profitable.
  • We heavily invest in and plan to continue investing in research and development. There is no assurance that we will realise returns on such investments.
  • If our vehicles become ineligible for the EMPS (Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme) 2024 subsidy, we may become less competitive due to higher product pricing (without the subsidies), potentially impacting our business and financial performance.
  • We intend to utilise INR 1,600 Cr out of the net proceeds for investment into research and development purposes although there is no assurance that such investment will proceed as planned and result in creation of tangible assets.

Ola Electric sold 3.29 Lakh vehicles in FY24 as against 1.56 Lakh units in the previous fiscal year.

It is pertinent to note that Ola Electric filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the SEBI in December last year and got approval to launch the IPO from the market regulator in June this year. 

Initially, the public issue comprised a fresh issue of shares worth INR 5,500 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 9.51 Cr shares. As per its RHP, the OFS component is lowered to 8.49 Cr shares, while the size of the fresh issue remains unchanged.

Zooming Into Expenses

In line with its business growth, Ola Electric’s total expenses shot up over 60% to INR 6,277.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 3,883.4 Cr in the previous year, with cost of materials consumed contributing 69.95% to the overall cost.

Ola Electric's FY24 Revenue Crosses The INR 5K Cr Mark; Net Loss Widens

Cost Of Materials Consumed: Ola Electric’s spending in this bucket jumped over 75% to INR 4,390.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 2,504.8 Cr in FY23.

It is pertinent to note that while the startup manufactures certain EV components, it imports battery cells from two foreign cell manufacturing companies, and plastic parts, electronic child parts and metal parts from other domestic and foreign suppliers. 

As per the RHP, imported supplies comprised 37.03% (a majority of it from China) of the cost of materials consumed in FY24 as against 31.11% in FY23. Meanwhile, domestic supplies comprised 62.97% of the cost of materials consumed in FY24 as compared to 68.89% the previous year.

Employee Cost: Ola Electric spent INR 438.9 Cr towards employee benefits expenses in FY24, registering a mere 2.8% increase year-on-year (YoY).

In that, it spent INR 295.4 Cr on salaries, wages and bonuses, while INR 88.7 Cr was spent as equity settled share-based expenses.

Inventories: The EV makers’s losses in inventories of finished goods, stock-in trade and work-in-progress increased to INR 81.1 Cr in the reported year from INR 73.6 Cr a year ago.

Warranties: The warranty expenses for its electric two-wheelers jumped almost 154% YoY to INR 293.3 Cr in FY24.

Vehicle Repair Services: Interestingly, Ola Electric’s spending towards vehicle repair services fell over 54% YoY to INR 37.6 Cr in the year under review.

Ola Electric’s public issue will open for retail subscription on August 2 and close on August 6.

The post IPO-Bound Ola Electric’s FY24 Net Loss Widens To INR 1,584 Cr, Revenue Jumps 90% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Centre Seeks Stricter Component Localisation Norms For EVs Under FAME-III https://inc42.com/buzz/centre-seeks-stricter-component-localisation-norms-for-evs-under-fame-iii/ Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:46:24 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=470012 The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is reportedly mulling a phased manufacturing programme (PMP) that would have stricter localisation norms…]]>

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is reportedly mulling a phased manufacturing programme (PMP) that would have stricter localisation norms for electric vehicle (EV) makers to qualify for the third phase of the proposed Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME-III) scheme.

As per a Business Standard report, the MHI, in discussions with industry stakeholders, suggested reducing the number of components eligible under PMP to 12 from 18 in FAME-III. 

This step would mean that the components such as power and control wiring harnesses, miniature circuit breakers, connectors, electric safety devices, lighting, and body panels would now have to be domestically manufactured.

It is pertinent to note that in 2022, the MHI notified a revised PMP to further promote indigenous manufacturing of EVs, its assemblies/ sub-assemblies and parts/ sub-parts/ inputs of the sub-assemblies. This had 18 items under the list with various effective dates for indigenisation.

The programme envisaged a graded duty structure to promote indigenous manufacturing of EV components over a period of time. It also decided the eligibility criteria to be qualified under the Centre’s FAME-II scheme.

However, indigenisation has been a major hurdle for the country’s EV industry over the last few years, which also led to the government taking punitive actions against industry players. More than a dozen two-wheeler EV manufacturers faced scrutiny for violating the localisation norms and many were slapped with fines of crores of rupees.

As per the recent media report, the MHI has asked automobile companies to provide feedback on the proposed changes.

The ministry and the industry are discussing a clear path for localisation. For instance, electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and electric rickshaws can only import cell and associated thermal and battery management systems.

Besides, only semiconductor devices and electronics can be imported for onboard chargers. All other components, including assembly of finished products such as printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing and soldering of electronics, must be made domestically.

The ministry has reportedly clarified that local suppliers importing finished parts will not qualify for PMP and FAME-III.

The ministry has defined activities qualifying as indigenous sources eligible for PMP and FAME-III, which include local sourcing of raw materials and child parts, local assembly of finished products, and partial import combined with partial local sourcing of raw materials and child parts, followed by local assembly of finished products.

However, EV makers are reportedly planning to raise a key concern regarding the government’s mandatory requirement for domestic PCB manufacturing across components, as the domestic base for PCB manufacturing is very limited.

Meanwhile, there is no clarity yet on the launch of the FAME-III scheme. As per the government data, the Centre passed on INR 6,942.32 Cr as total demand subsidy under FAME-II between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2024.

The post Centre Seeks Stricter Component Localisation Norms For EVs Under FAME-III appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Speciale Invest’s Vishesh Rajaram On How Centre’s INR 1K Cr Fund Will Boost The Spacetech Economy https://inc42.com/features/speciale-invests-vishesh-rajaram-on-how-centres-inr-1k-cr-fund-will-boost-the-spacetech-economy/ Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:52:11 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469674 Amid an industry-wide demand for some financial support from the government for the country’s nascent spacetech ecosystem, finance minister Nirmala…]]>

Amid an industry-wide demand for some financial support from the government for the country’s nascent spacetech ecosystem, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget 2024-25 speech that the Centre would set up an INR 1,000 Cr venture capital (VC) fund for the sector.

The finance minister said that the move is part of the Centre’s efforts to expand the country’s space economy 5X in the next 10 years.

While the announcement was welcomed by founders and investors from the country’s specetech ecosystem, they are now awaiting the fine prints. Allocation procedure for the fund and eligibility criteria are some of the major points on which the industry is seeking clarity to put speculations to rest.

Speaking to Inc42 about the announcement, Pixxel founder and CEO Awais Ahmed said that the VC fund can either directly make investments or the government might go for a fund of funds approach.

It is pertinent to note that the Centre runs a Fund of Funds For Startups (FFS) scheme, under which it has facilitated an investment of INR 18,000 Cr by the end of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

Meanwhile, Ahmed also highlighted that there would be a need for more funds in the future for the spacetech sector. “… the private space sector is still nascent, and we recognise that even larger funds will be needed as the sector grows — eventually, an INR 10,000 Cr fund (might be needed),” he said.

Inc42 spoke to Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest, to understand the implications of the announcement for setting up the VC fund. 

Speciale is one of the leading spacetech investors in the country and counts the likes of Agnikul Cosmos, GalaxEye Space, Kawa Space, Astrogate Labs, and InspeCity in its portfolio.  

Here are the edited excerpts from the interview with Speciale’s Rajaram…

Inc42: As one of the leading VC funds in the spacetech sector, how do you look at the government’s step to establish an INR 1K Cr VC fund to boost the space economy?

Vishesh Rajaram: First of all, let me put a disclaimer. I am an optimist. We have looked at the Budget every year, and this is the first time such a fund has been created. 

So, to me, the quantum is incidental. The move from the government to say that this is a sector that needs support and its decision to put aside some amount of money is a strong validation. It shows the government aims to make this sector an important part of the economy.

A large part of India’s burgeoning spacetech market includes building from India

for the rest of the world. This is actually an export market for us and that’s going to need a lot of work and support through different aspects. 

The FDI policy that came in February was a strong signal that the government and the policy framework is welcoming international capital participation.

The creation of IN-SPACe and the policy framework for private companies to find a way to leverage the infrastructure capability and competency of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) via IN-SPACe is another strong validation.

So, if you consider all these things, it is clear that the government is taking incremental steps and is realising the importance of the space sector and the support it needs.

So, as an existing investor in this category from 2018-2019, I think, it couldn’t get any better.

Inc42: What do you think the allocation strategy of this fund is going to look like? 

Vishesh Rajaram: There’s too much speculation at this point and it’s difficult to predict right now. However, if we go back in history, the government has a fund of funds programme through SIDBI that has invested in other funds.

If we look at IN-SPACe, it has a seed fund programme to invest small amounts of money in startups. But at this point, it will be pure speculation to figure out which will be the nodal agency to do it. 

But the focus is clear, the entire amount of money is set aside for entrepreneurs building for spacetech from India for the world. I am sure the Centre will put together the mechanisms of fund allocation in due course.  

I think this fund will have a multiplier effect.

Inc42: So, do you think this step to create a VC fund will encourage more investment from other participants in spacetech? Should the government have allocated a higher amount for the sector?

Vishesh Rajaram: If the government is willing to put in so much money, I am sure there will be participation from both domestic and international investors.

The real reason deeptech is not chosen by many is that there are a lot of technical risks involved, which sometimes lead to high gestation periods to build products. So, I don’t think every fund is going to do deeptech. 

Now, India is beginning to see more of such funds investing in deeptech sectors but it will always be a smaller market compared to the consumer market. So, the government’s step to focus on each sector separately is the right approach because there cannot be a one-size-fits-all model in a country of our size.

If the government puts in INR 1,000 Cr, it will make a bunch of other people think about this more seriously as a sector. It also sends a very positive signal internationally for investors to consider participating in the space sector in India.

If companies perform well, I am confident that more capital will come for the sector. 

Inc42: Which spacetech startups do you think would benefit the most from this financial boost?

Vishesh Rajaram: The upstream ones are building more hardware and the downstream ones are building more software. So, of course, hardware ends up taking more money than software, at least in the initial years. 

As such, upstream companies would want to raise capital from this type of vehicles and are likely to be the bigger beneficiary.

Inc42: How are you looking at the international focus on India’s spacetech sector?

Vishesh Rajaram: India has had a strong competitive advantage when building from here for the rest of the world, given the country’s talent base, credentials, and infrastructure that has produced some of the top companies in the space sector.

Besides, the Indian market is also growing. However, right now the focus is on growing our share in the global space market.

From my vantage point, international investors are looking at the Indian spacetech sector very positively. Some of them have been investing in the country’s spacetech sector even before the government made the announcements for the sector. This gives an idea of the reputation ISRO has built. Many of our companies benefit from the fact that they come from India, where ISRO operates. 

The post Speciale Invest’s Vishesh Rajaram On How Centre’s INR 1K Cr Fund Will Boost The Spacetech Economy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Groww Mutual Fund Launches NFOs Based On Nifty EV & New Age Automotive Index https://inc42.com/buzz/groww-mutual-fund-launches-nfos-based-on-nifty-ev-new-age-automotive-index/ Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:48:02 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469650 Wealthtech startup Groww’s asset management business Groww Mutual Fund launched two new fund offerings (NFO) – Groww Nifty EV &…]]>

Wealthtech startup Groww’s asset management business Groww Mutual Fund launched two new fund offerings (NFO) – Groww Nifty EV & New Age Automotive ETF and Groww Nifty EV & New Age Automotive ETF FOF on Wednesday (July 24).

The NFO of Groww Nifty EV & New Age Automotive ETF (exchange-traded fund) will be open till August 2, 2024, and that of Groww Nifty EV & New Age Automotive ETF FOF (fund of funds) will be open till August 7, 2024. 

The development comes on the heels of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) launching a new thematic index – Nifty EV & New Age Automotive index – in May this year. The exchange announced the launch of the index to track the performance of companies that are a part of the EV ecosystem or involved in developing new-age automotive vehicles or related technology.

Speaking on the NFOs, Varun Gupta, CEO of Groww Asset Management Ltd, said, “With the rapid growth in the electric vehicle sector, these new funds aim to offer investors opportunities to benefit from this dynamic and evolving industry. Our ETF and FOF are specifically designed to help investors capitalise on the potential future of electric mobility and related technologies.” 

“By investing in these funds, investors can seek to gain exposure to a diverse portfolio of companies driving innovation in electric vehicles, battery technology, charging infrastructure, and other critical areas of the EV ecosystem,” he said.

The listed companies that are included in this list are EV battery manufacturers Amara Raja Energy & Mobility and Exide Industries Ltd, vehicle manufacturers Bajaj Auto Ltd, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, Olectra Greentech Ltd, TVS Motor Company Ltd, and Tata Motors Ltd, among others. 

Meanwhile, it is also pertinent to note that the leading electric two-wheeler manufacturer in the country, Ola Electric, is set to soon make its public market debut.

Groww’s new funds are designed for long-term capital appreciation but have ‘very high risk’ benchmarks.

As Groww’s asset management arm noted in its statement today, the Indian government, under the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024 has allocated INR 500 Cr from April 1 to July 31 2024 to accelerate the adoption of electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. 

While FAME III is not yet launched, there is a high expectation in the market of its launch soon, which could further bolster EV adoption in the country.

Earlier, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) also launched its Nifty EV & New Age Automotive ETF.

 

The post Groww Mutual Fund Launches NFOs Based On Nifty EV & New Age Automotive Index appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Angel Tax Is Dead But Pending Cases Must Be Quashed: Mohandas Pai https://inc42.com/buzz/angel-tax-is-dead-but-the-centre-must-now-quash-all-pending-cases-mohandas-pai/ Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:45:48 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469495 While the abolition of angel tax has come as a big relief for the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, Mohandas Pai,…]]>

While the abolition of angel tax has come as a big relief for the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys and partner at Aarin Capital, now wants all the pending cases under the annulled tax regime quashed.

Speaking with Inc42, after the budget announcement, Pai said, “It is a big relief for the startups. The government should have done it earlier instead of harassing people. The government must now withdraw all cases pending under angel tax in the last five years and state clearly that no angel tax will be levied on any pending assessments.”

“All the people stuck in the angel tax web should be relieved,” Pai reiterated.

We must note that during her budget speech on July 23 (Tuesday), finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the abolishment of the angel tax, a much-criticised taxation regime among Indian startups and investors.

Following the announcement, social media platforms were flooded with reactions from investors, the VC ecosystem, founders, and tax lawyers – all breathing a sigh of relief.

“The life of an entrepreneur is defined by time and a constant battle against insuperable odds. Angel Tax best exemplified this statement as it was an albatross across the neck of all Indian entrepreneurs for 12 years,” as per Siddarth Pai, the founding partner at 3one4 Capital.

However, the pending cases continue to be a concern, he also stated.

What About Pending Cases Under Angel Tax?

In October last year, Inc42 reported that 10,809 DPIIT-recognised startups applied for the angel tax exemption between February 19, 2019, and September 26, 2023. Of these startups, only 8,066 were granted exemption.

In contrast, only 944 startups had applied for angel tax exemption as of June 21, 2019, out of which the CBDT exempted 702 startups under this provision.

Hence, it goes without saying that there are hoards of cases still pending under angel tax.

As 3one4 Capital’s Siddarth Pai said, “The section will no longer be operational from April 1, 2024 (once the Finance Bill gets passed). This means that all startups which have raised capital at a premium [since the starting of this fiscal] shall not be subject to this Angel tax from April 1, 2024 onwards (April 1, 2025 mentioned in the Finance Bill is for the relevant assessment year, not the year it goes live).”

However, he added that the ones that raised capital in previous years may still receive a notice. 

“The FM must announce that startups in the past will not face Angel Tax notices and those which have received notices should see them withdrawn,” Pai said.

Echoing his sentiment, Sandiip Bhammer, founder and co-managing partner at Green Frontier Capital told Inc42 that the issue of pending cases under angel tax is a “looming concern” for startups and investors. 

“The government should take steps to establish clear guidelines and transparency, establish a fast-track resolution mechanism and engage with stakeholders for practical and implementable solutions,” Bhammer added.

Can The Government Lift Pending Legal Cases?

“While the government cannot drop the earlier cases as the law has existed so far, one remedial path the government can take is to give instructions or issue administrative circular to be less stringent on the pending cases or respect their valuation reports,” a legal expert told Inc42, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, Rajarshi Dasgupta, executive director, tax, at AQUILAW, also said that the pending cases under the angel tax will continue as it is, unless otherwise falling under amnesty.

On the other hand, Anirudh A. Damani, founding partner at Artha Venture Fund, suggested that one approach could be introducing a scheme similar to the Vivad Se Vishwas initiative to resolve tax disputes amicably. 

“Such a scheme could help withdraw these cases, provided the investments are verified as genuine,” he said, adding that the valuation paid during these investments mustn’t be subject to scrutiny by tax assessors, as the focus should be on supporting and fostering the startup ecosystem rather than penalising it,” Damani added.

What Is The Discussion All About?

For a quick recap, initially, the idea behind introducing angel tax was to keep shell companies at bay and prevent laundering of black money.

Though there were certain amendments introduced over the period as the government faced pressure from the startup ecosystem, it continued to remain a hurdle for investors and companies following fair business practices, as noted by industry leaders.

Though a major concern remains around the pending legal cases under angel tax, a major hurdle is gone nonetheless with its abolition. 

As Bhammer noted: earlier, the tax was imposed on startups raising capital at a premium in excess of their fair market values as the excess value was treated as income. Since most startups did not earn a profit for some time after the commencement of their businesses, it became difficult to justify the premium as the fair market values were always low. 

As a result, there were frequent disputes between the startups and tax authorities in connection with the fair market value of shares, which led to costly and lengthy litigation and put off international investors from investing in India’s startup companies, said Bhammer.

With angel tax now abolished, startups will be able to raise funds more easily without the fear of any tax liabilities. 

“International funds can now invest in companies based on market-driven competitive valuations without the risk of any tax scrutiny and potential disputes with the Indian tax authorities,” he added.

The post Angel Tax Is Dead But Pending Cases Must Be Quashed: Mohandas Pai appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Budget 2024-25: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Abolishes Angel Tax https://inc42.com/buzz/budget-2024-25-fm-nirmala-sitharaman-abolishes-angel-tax/ Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:11:34 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469323 In a major relief to the Indian startup ecosystem and investors, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the abolishment of the…]]>

In a major relief to the Indian startup ecosystem and investors, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the abolishment of the angel tax on July 23 (Tuesday).

In her budget speech, Sitharaman said, “To bolster the Indian startup ecosystem, boost the entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation, I propose to abolish the so-called angel tax for all classes of investors.”

The move is part of the Centre’s efforts to promote investments in the country. 

Following Sitharaman’s announcement of scrapping angel tax, Mohandas Pai, former CFO of Infosys and partner at Aarin Capital, told Inc42, “It is a big relief for the startups. The government should have done it earlier instead of harassing people. The government must also now withdraw all cases pending under angel tax in the last five years and state clearly that no angel tax will be levied on any pending assessments.”

It is pertinent to note that the entire Indian startup ecosystem, including VCs and founders, were seeking clarity on the angel tax front during this budget.

For a quick recap, the so-called angel tax traces its origin back to March 16, 2012, when Section 56(2)(viib) was inserted in the Income Tax Act, 1961. The section was introduced to keep shell companies at bay and prevent laundering of black money.

However, it soon became a bone of contention. Around 2016, tax officials began issuing notices to startups to pay angel tax and questioned new-age tech companies over their valuation methodology and others. 

Angel tax is payable on capital raised by unlisted companies if the value of the shares issued to investors exceeds their fair market value (FMV).

In March 2019, the government provided an exemption on angel tax to startups under certain conditions after facing some pressure. In the Finance Bill, 2023, while the government introduced certain exemptions for overseas investors, the startup investments continued to be in trouble. 

In recent days, top names in the startup ecosystem, including Pai, have criticised the angel tax. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) also recommended the removal of the angel tax for startups. 

Meanwhile, Siddarth Pai, the founding partner at 3one4 Capital, told Inc42 that the announcement of the removal of angel tax is a big reform. 

“This is essential for startups to remain in India and build from here. This is a major step forward for Indian startups. It is a watershed moment in the Indian startup story. A tax on capital is antithetical to capital formation and this has long been used to harass startups and investors. Given the mandatory dematting of securities, Section 68, disclosure of unlisted investments in tax returns has plugged the transparency gap for which angel tax was created. It took 12 years, but the startup industry can heave a sigh of relief that the dreaded angel tax has been removed,” he said.  

The post Budget 2024-25: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Abolishes Angel Tax appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Budget 2024: FM Announces Customs Duty Exemption On Critical Minerals Like Lithium, Cobalt https://inc42.com/buzz/budget-2024-fm-announces-customs-duty-exemption-on-critical-minerals-like-lithium-cobalt/ Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:58:09 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469291 Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday) announced a complete customs duty exemption on 25 critical minerals, including cobalt,…]]>

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday) announced a complete customs duty exemption on 25 critical minerals, including cobalt, lithium, copper, germanium, and silicon.

It is pertinent to note that these minerals are crucial in the manufacturing of batteries used in consumer electronics devices, electric vehicles (EVs), drones, various energy storage devices, and more.

Besides the customs duty exemption, the minister also announced reduction of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on two of these minerals.

In her budget speech, Sitharaman noted that these critical minerals and rare earth elements are critical for sectors including nuclear energy, renewable energy, space, defence, telecommunications, and high-tech electronics.

“…this (the exemption) will provide a major fillip to the processing and refining of such minerals and help secure their availability for these strategic and important sectors,” said Sitharaman.

Besides, the union minister also announced the reduction and rationalisation of customs duty for multiple other types of goods such as some medicines and medical equipment used for the treatment of cancer patients, mobile phones and related parts, among others.

“In Budget 2022-23, we reduced the number of customs duty rates. I propose to undertake a comprehensive review of the rate structure over the next six months to rationalise and simplify it for ease of trade, removal of duty inversion and reduction of disputes,” said Sitharaman.

Meanwhile, the reduction and customs duty exemption on critical minerals and rare earth metals has been well-received by the manufacturing industry as it is expected to lower lithium-ion battery costs, which are an integral component of EVs, drones, among others.

“The waiver of import duties on key minerals like lithium is a significant step forward, (and is) expected to lower the manufacturing costs of EV batteries and, ultimately, reduce EV prices for consumers. This move will accelerate the adoption of EVs across the nation,” said Akshit Bansal, CEO and founder of Statiq.

The exemption and reduction of the duties on critical minerals will come into effect on July 24, 2024.

The post Budget 2024: FM Announces Customs Duty Exemption On Critical Minerals Like Lithium, Cobalt appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Union Budget 2024-25: FM Announces INR 1K Cr Venture Capital Fund To Boost Space Economy https://inc42.com/buzz/union-budget-2024-25-fm-announces-inr-1k-cr-venture-capital-fund-to-boost-space-economy/ Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:40:51 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469258 Giving a major boost to the nation’s space economy, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday) announced the setting…]]>

Giving a major boost to the nation’s space economy, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday) announced the setting up of an INR 1,000 Cr venture capital (VC) fund.

During her budget speech, the FM said that the government has increased its focus on the space economy and private sector-driven research and innovation at the commercial scale.

“…we will set up a mechanism for spurring private sector driven research and innovation at commercial scale, with the financing pool of INR 1 Lakh Cr, in line with the announcement in the interim budget… With our continued emphasis on expanding the space economy by five times in the next 10 years, a venture capital fund of INR 1,000 Cr will be set up,” Sitharaman said.

It is pertinent to note that the Centre with its policies for the spacetech ecosystem has enabled the private startups’ participation in this industry in the last few years. 

From establishing the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) as the nodal agency to support emerging startups in the sector to allowing up to 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) via the automatic route for certain sub-segments in the space sector during the interim budget this year, the government has taken several steps to enable the development of the spacetech ecosystem.

However, there was an increasing demand in the ecosystem for certain financial benefits such as a Production Linked Initiative (PLI) scheme to spur the domestic spacetech industry.

Pertinent to note that despite the INR 1,000 Cr VC fund announcement, the FM did not get into the specifics of the disbursement.

However, Awais Ahmed, the founder and CEO of Pixxel anticipates the fund will be strategically allocated to support the most promising startups and projects within the spacetech industry. 

“Judging by the amount, it could either be a direct fund that makes startup investments or a fund of funds… We expect that there will be a transparent and efficient route in place to ensure that the funds reach the companies and projects that have the potential to make significant contributions to India’s space capabilities,” Ahmed said.

He also noted that the fund is likely to help early-stage startups avoid the “valley of death” and enable more early-stage experimentation while providing crucial financial support to startups so that they can focus on innovation and growth.

“However, the private space sector is still nascent, and we recognise that even larger funds will be needed as the sector grows—eventually, an INR 10,000 Cr fund,” he said, adding that further revenue budgets for procurements will also be needed to help startups have operational support to execute their projects effectively.

Meanwhile, applauding the government’s move, Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest, said that the fund will catalyse India’s dominance in the global space market and lead to a multiplier effect in investments from venture capital and private markets in the space sector.

It is pertinent to note Speciale Invest’s portfolio includes some of the top spacetech startups like Agnikul Comos, Galaxeye Space, Kawa Space, Astrogate Labs, and InspeCity.  

As per Inc42’s analysis, over 150 spacetech startups bagged more than $285 Mn in funding between 2014 and 2023. The Indian spacetech market is expected to cross $77 Bn by 2030, growing at a 26% CAGR.

The post Union Budget 2024-25: FM Announces INR 1K Cr Venture Capital Fund To Boost Space Economy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Budget 2024-25: FM Bolsters MSMEs In Manufacturing With Credit Guarantee Scheme https://inc42.com/buzz/budget-2024-25-fm-announces-credit-guarantee-scheme-for-msmes-in-manufacturing-sector/ Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:16:41 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469220 While making a flurry of announcement during her Union Budget 2024-25 speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday)…]]>

While making a flurry of announcement during her Union Budget 2024-25 speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 (Tuesday) announced a credit guarantee scheme for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing sector.

The scheme is anticipated to help in facilitating term loans to MSMEs for the purchase of machinery and equipment without collateral or third-party guarantees.

“For facilitating term loans to MSMEs for purchase of machinery and equipment without collateral or third-party guarantee, a credit guarantee scheme will be introduced. The scheme will operate on pooling of credit risks of such MSMEs. A separately constituted self-financing guarantee fund will provide, to each applicant, guarantee cover up to ` INR 100 Cr, while the loan amount may be larger,” Sitharaman said.

Besides the MSMEs in manufacturing, the overall electronics manufacturing ecosystem has also received several policy boosts from the Centre in this year’s budget.

For instance, the finance minister proposed to remove the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on oxygen-free copper used to make resistors, with certain conditions, to boost value addition in the domestic electronics industry. Sitharaman also proposed to exempt certain parts used to manufacture connectors.

Speaking on the boost for the MSME sector, Dinesh Gulati, chief operating officer at IndiaMART Intermesh, said, “The new scheme will not only help provide the much-needed financial assistance but also act as a catalyst for the manufacturing sector… Increase of limit for MUDRA and slash of turnover threshold TReDS registration will further provide necessary breathing room to the MSMEs.”

However, the manufacturing industry had more demands from the government, which were left unattended. One of them was a PLI policy, which could help smaller and medium companies across the electronics manufacturing value chain.

Meanwhile, MSMEs received multiple other benefits. Sitharaman announced that the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) would open new branches to expand services to all major MSME clusters within three years and provide them with direct credits.

Besides, the limit of loans provided under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was also proposed to be increased to INR 20 Lakh from the existing INR 10 Lakh.

The post Budget 2024-25: FM Bolsters MSMEs In Manufacturing With Credit Guarantee Scheme appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Mobile Content Unicorn Glance In Talks To Raise $250 Mn In Funding Led By Google https://inc42.com/buzz/mobile-content-unicorn-glance-in-talks-to-raise-250-mn-in-funding-led-by-google/ Mon, 22 Jul 2024 12:37:58 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=469131 Adtech unicorn InMobi-owned mobile content provider Glance is reportedly in advanced talks to raise capital in a $250 Mn funding…]]>

Adtech unicorn InMobi-owned mobile content provider Glance is reportedly in advanced talks to raise capital in a $250 Mn funding round led by its existing backer Google.

As per a Bloomberg report, Glance InMobi Pte. is looking to raise the funding within a few weeks. However, the report also said that the fundraise is yet to be finalised and discussions might still break down.

Responding to Inc42’s request for a comment on the development, Glance said it doesn’t comment on market rumours and speculations.

Founded in 2019 by Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal, Mohit Saxena, and Piyush Shah, Glance is owned by InMobi, which was founded in 2007. Glance delivers screensavers for mobile devices, which helps users view certain content news without unlocking displays or opening any apps. 

The platform delivers AI-driven personalised content in languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bahasa on the lock screen of Android smartphones. This content includes trending news.

Its offerings include Glance Lock Screen, Glance Home Screen, and Glance Folders. It claims to have over 300 Mn users in countries, including India, the US, Japan and Indonesia.

In 2019, Glance raised $45 Mn in a funding round from Mithril Capital. The next year, it raised $145 Mn in investment from Google and existing investor Mithril Capital to enter the unicorn club.

Later on, in February 2022, Glance received $200 Mn in funding from Reliance’s Jio in its Series D round. 

The startup acquired gaming startup Gambit Sports in 2022 to build NFT-based live gaming experiences for Gen-Z, across various markets. 

Last year, Glance launched Nostra, a mobile gaming platform for India and Southeast Asia. The startup’s partners include top smartphone companies such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and realme, among others.

The post Mobile Content Unicorn Glance In Talks To Raise $250 Mn In Funding Led By Google appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
64 EV Startups That Are Helping Keep The Earth Healthy And Clean https://inc42.com/startups/24-ev-startups-that-are-helping-keep-the-earth-healthy-clean/ Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:47:01 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=286070 With sustainability becoming one of the top priorities for countries and businesses alike, the narrative around increasing the usage of…]]>

With sustainability becoming one of the top priorities for countries and businesses alike, the narrative around increasing the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) has taken centre stage in the past few years. Though the electrification of vehicles started a bit late in India compared to some European countries, the US, China, and Japan, the country’s EV adoption has grown exponentially on the back of more startups joining the segment and government policies.

Many Indian EV startups such as Ather Energy, Altigreen, BluSmart, and Exponent Energy have now come up with sustainable solutions for mobility. The Indian EV market houses various small as well as large EV startups and is estimated to reach $110.74 Bn by 2029.

Indian EV startups offer services such as sustainable mobility, energy infrastructure, commercial mobility and battery management system, among others, to the general masses and enterprises. Besides, they are also helping reduce carbon emissions and offering a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

Let’s take a look at some of the Indian startups that are helping keep the earth healthy and green through their technology and products. The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. The Indian EV brands have been listed in alphabetical order.

Startups In The EV Segment 

1. 3EV Industries

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Peter Hartmut Voelkner, Suman K. Mishra
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
  • Investors: Credence Family Office
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

3EV Industries was founded in association between RUGGED Solar Products Pvt Ltd and ReBatt Limited in 2019. It offers last-mile hyper-local connectivity to customers across India. 

In November 2021, 3EV Industries raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round from several family offices including Credence Family Office. The startup originally aligns with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ ambitions.

It manufactures vehicles across cargo and passenger segments, along with kits to convert conventional vehicles to electric. It aims to use renewable energy and off-grid power systems to optimise last-mile logistics. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Altigreen Propulsion Labs

  • Founded In: 2013
  • Founders: Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn 
  • Investors: Reliance New Energy Limited, Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Altigreen offers last-mile transportation through two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler EVs for commercial use.

In February 2022, Altigreen raised INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The round saw participation from Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital.

The startup has a presence in 60 countries, along with 26 global patents. It had a turnover of INR 1.04  Cr in FY21 against INR 61.62 lakh in FY20.

______________________________________________________________________________________

3. AMO Mobility

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Sushant Kumar
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: Noida

AMO Mobility is an MSME-registered and ICAT-certified electric mobility startup. It is also certified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

The original equipment manufacturer follows a business model for both B2C and B2B customers. Besides selling its electric two-wheelers through dealerships, AMO also has partnerships with OEMs, sub-dealerships, channel partners, and B2C partners to distribute its products. 

Some of its most noteworthy B2B partnerships include JustDial, Indiamart, the ecommerce platform of Paytm, and BikeDekho.

Recently, AMO Mobility signed a pact with EV-as-a -service platform, Trigo Electric, to provide its advanced electric mobility solutions to the company.

AMO Mobility has a range of escooter models, including Jaunty, Feisty, and Inspirer. Its customer base comprises corporates, ecommerce players, and CSR segments.

______________________________________________________________________________________

4. Ather Energy

  • Founded In: 2013
  • Founders: Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain
  • Funding Raised To Date: $400 Mn+
  • Investors: Hero Motocorp, Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, NIIF Limited
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ather Energy offers sustainable mobility and energy infrastructure solutions. It manufactures two-wheeler electric vehicles, 450X and 450 Plus, that are sold on its website and offline retail stores. 

In May, Ather secured $128 Mn in its Series E funding round from sovereign fund NIIF Limited and existing investor Hero MotoCorp. With this round, it also closed its Series E round. In September 2023, it raised INR 900 Cr from existing shareholders Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue.

The startup claims to have installed more than 1,000 charging stations across 80 cities in India. It aims to have around 2,500+ charging stations by the end of 2023.

It was earlier reported that the EV startup had set up its second manufacturing plant in Hosur to meet the demand for electric scooters. In October 2021, its annual revenue rate (ARR) rose by 12X to $100 Mn.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Baaz Bikes

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena, Shubham Srivastava 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $10.3 Mn
  • Investors: BIG Capital, Kalaari Capital, AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, Sumant Sinha
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

Baaz Bikes, a subsidiary of ElecTorq Technologies, offers micro-mobility solutions to gig workers. It helps gig workers earn money by using its electric scooters for deliveries for companies such as Zomato, Amazon and Grofers.

Baaz Bikes raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital along with the participation of AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns and Renew Power’s Sumant Sinha. In November 2023, the EV startup raised $8 Mn in its Series A funding round.

Baaz Bikes has built a full stack EV ecosystem that provides the delivery executives of companies, including Zomato, Zepto, and Amazon, access to its low-speed ebikes (Baaz Bikes) as well as battery swapping stations (Baaz Swap) under a subscription model.

With more than 500 vehicles on the road, the startup claims to earn around INR 5,000 per month from each delivery executive.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Battery Smart

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka
  • Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn
  • Investors: Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Niraj Singh, Amit Bhasin  
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

Battery Smart allows customers to swap their EV batteries at its stations, called Swap Stations. It currently offers its services to e-rickshaw owners. 

Battery Smart claims to operate more than 850 Swap Stations across Delhi-NCR and says it has completed more than 220 lakh battery swaps. Currently, it has 35,000 active vehicles on its platform and makes 80,000 swaps on a daily basis as of November 2023.

In November 2021, Battery Smart raised $7 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures. The round saw participation from investors including Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, and angel investors such as Bluestone’s Srinivas Anumolu, and GrowthStory.in’s K Ganesh, Spinny’s Niraj Singh and GoMechanic’s Amit Bhasin.

Prior to this, Battery Smart raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a seed funding round from Orios Venture Partners in February 2021. The startup has further raised $25 Mn in its Series A round in June 2022 led by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures and two debt rounds from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil.

In its pre-series B funding round in July of 2023, Battery Smart raised $33 Mn led by investors Tiger Global and Blume Ventures, with participation from the Ecosystem Integrity Fund and British International Investment.

Battery Smart claims to have live swap stations across 27 cities and it works with 35,500 vehicles.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

7. BGauss

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Hemant Kabra
  • Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
  • Investors: Darshan Patel
  • Headquarters:  Mumbai

BGauss, which is promoted by RR Global, offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup manufactures two EVs – BGauss B8 and BGauss A2 – which are sold on its website as well as in offline stores. It is currently expanding its product portfolio by launching two new EV scooters in 2022. 

According to an Inc42 report, BGauss’ new EV scooter D15 will be launched in May 2022, while the other scooter will be launched later this year. The startup claims that these scooters will be 100% ‘Made in India’ at its production facility located in Chakan near Pune.

Recently, the EV startup got $7 Mn in funding from Vini Cosmetics’ Darshan Patel to expand retail and manufacturing capacity in India, perform R&D and develop in-house products across various EV components. It claims to have 100 dealer networks across India and is planning to enter Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by the end of 2022. It is further looking to scale up operations and focus on the export market.

As per its website, it has a presence in more than 85 countries. It also has 13 manufacturing facilities and over 25K retail stores. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

8. BLive

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Samarth Kholkar, Sandeep Mukherjee
  • Funding Raised To Date: Approximately $3 Mn
  • Investors: LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, Ankit Agrawal
  • Headquarters: Goa

BLive is a multi-brand EV store that offers a wide range of EV products and services on its digital platform as well as in retail stores. It’s a one-stop shop for EV products and solutions.

BLive’s EV Store features a lineup of electric two-wheelers from brands like TVS, Ola, and Ather. In August 2023, the startup collaborated with electric bike manufacturer Revolt Motors to support its sales, service and spares pan India.

BLive also offers customised EV financing solutions.

Recently, the startup expanded its collaboration with Zomato to deploy escooters for last-mile deliveries in more southern cities, including Bengaluru. As part of the partnership, the startup is deploying TVS iQube scooters for Zomato’s last-mile deliveries.

 ______________________________________________________________________________________________

9. BluSmart 

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal
  • Funding Raised To Date: $110 Mn+
  • Investors: Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, UCIC, BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Suvan Partners,  Mumbai Angels, Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts
  • Headquarters: Gurugram

BluSmart offers electric ride-hailing mobility services through its mobile-based app. It primarily provides sustainable mobility solutions to urban customers.

In May 2022, BluSmart secured $25 Mn through equity and debt financing in its Series A funding round. Investors who participated in the round include BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil and UCIC. It raised over $66 Mn in two rounds in 2023. 

BluSmart claims to have completed over 10 Mn rides so far. It also owned and operated over 4,000 EV chargers, across its 34 EV charging superhubs as of 2023 end. The startup is looking to raise around INR 200 Cr in a pre-Series B funding round.

______________________________________________________________________________________

10. BOLT

  • Founded: 2017
  • Founders: Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav
  • Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn 
  • Investors: ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, SUN Mobility, Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru 

BOLT, previously known as REVOS, is an AI-based IoT platform that helps people operate EVs. It essentially tracks and monitors motor controllers as well as batteries on the platform. 

In September 2021, BOLT raised $4 Mn in its Series A round led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and Prime Venture Partners. It claims to have sold about 1,000 devices, including EVs and chargers in 30 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), across India, China, Nepal, Egypt and Vietnam to date. The startup claims it has installed 10,000 EV charging stations in India in the past six months. 

BOLT is reportedly aiming to deploy 100K charging stations in the coming six months to meet the demand in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandigarh, Surat, and Bhubaneswar, among others.

Recently, BOLT also partnered with the Delhi Capitals cricket team for the IPL.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Bounce

  • Founded In: 2014
  • Founders: Anil G, Varun Agni, Vivekananda Halleker
  • Funding Raised To Date: $214 Mn
  • Investors: Peak XV, Accel Partners, B Capital Group, Chiratae Ventures

Initially, Bounce started its operations as a bike/scooter rental platform. In 2022, it pivoted to become an escooter manufacturer. 

Currently, Bounce manufactures and sells Bounce Inifinity escooters. It also gives its escooters on rent.

The EV maker currently has three escooter variants – E.1, E.1 LE, and E.1+ – with their prices ranging from INR 1.09 Lakh to INR 1.12 Lakh.

Bounce last raised $105 Mn in 2020 from Accel Partners and B Capital Group. The company is trying to raise more funding.

In FY23, its net loss narrowed 19% YoY to INR 197 Cr and operating revenue jumped 510% to INR 90.9 Cr.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

12. Cell Propulsion

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal, Supratim Naskar
  • Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn
  • Investors: growX ventures, Micelio, Endiya Partners, CIIE.CO, Sangam Ventures
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Cell Propulsion offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup develops high-voltage powertrains technology for commercial vehicle applications. Besides this, it manufactures electric commercial vehicles – Oryx Electric and Beluga Electric. While Oryx Electric is available for sale, Beluga Electric has not been officially launched yet by the startup. 

As per its website, GrowX Ventures, Endiya, Micelio and CIIE.CO and Sangam Ventures are among its investors. It has covered over 200K emission-free distance and onboarded five fleets to date. It is currently managing over 10 fast-charging stations.

In 2021, it reportedly secured $2 Mn of funding from a cohort of private equity investors including Endiya Partners, GrowX Ventures, Huddle Accelerator and Micelio. Prior to this, it raised $1 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round in September 2020. 

In 2019, it was also a part of Huddle and growX Ventures’ EV accelerator program.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

13. CHARGE+ZONE

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Kartikey Hariyani and Pavan Bakeri
  • Funding Raised To Date: $17 Mn
  • Investors: Venture Catalysts, Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Ramakrishnan Family Office
  • Headquarters: Gujarat

CHARGE+ZONE offers an OEM charging network through its app-based charging stations. Its app provides an array of services to EV drivers, such as finding charging points, and booking them in advance. 

In December 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $10 Mn in a bridge funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Prior to this, it raised $4 Mn in the same round. CHARGE+ZONE currently aims to raise another $50 Mn in a Series A funding round in 2022. 

In November 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $3 Mn in a Pre-Series funding A round led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Ramakrishnan Family Office. Earlier in May 2021, it raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels. 

CHARGE+ZONE is reported to have started the distribution of AC-Type2 EV charging networks and intercity fast DC charging networks for 1,500 new points over the next 150 days.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

14. Chargeup

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2.5 Mn
  • Investors:  Capital A, Anicut Capital, MapmyIndia,  Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor  
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

Chargeup offers battery swapping services for three-wheeler EVs in India. 

In February 2022, Chargeup reportedly raised $2.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Capital A and Anicut Capita. 

The round also saw participation from angel investors including boAt’s Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor. The startup claims to have expanded to 100 stations and onboarded 800 drivers on its platform. It further says that it has 100 dealers working with the platform.

As per its website, Chargeup has an AI and ML-based platform that provides services such as subscription-based usage, delivers 5,000 MwHr, forecasts demand hotspots, predicts energy demand, and operates 10K charging stations. The startup claims to have 800 satisfied users and 100 dealers associated with it. It also aims to power 1 Mn EVs by 2027.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Corrit Electric

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Mayur Misra
  • Funding Raised To Date: $9 Mn 
  • Investors: SphitiCap
  • Headquarters: Noida

Corrit Electric offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers and B2B customers. It sells three electric bikes – Hover 1.0, Hover 2.0 and Hover 2.0+. The company has recently launched an electric bike, Transit, for B2B deliveries. It has a top speed of 70 kmph and payload capacity of 200 Kg. 

In November 2022, it secured $9 Mn in funding from venture capital fund SphitiCap to ramp up its production facility and manufacture electric bikes to resolve issues related to last-mile connectivity.

Earlier, it had shared plans to build 1.5 Lakh electric bikes in the next three years.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

16. eee-Taxi 

  • Founded In: 2015
  • Founders: Vipul Nanda, Nishant Saini
  • Funding Raised To Date: NA
  • Investors: NA

eee-Taxi is a tech-enabled platform offering EV ride-hailing management solutions working in a B2B model. It helps businesses reduce their employee logistics costs while also promoting the use and adoption of EVs.

The company develops modules including employee dashboards, employee applications, budget tracking, and others. The EV company also offers airport transfers, self-drive, and spot rentals.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

17. ElectricPe

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Avinash Sharma, Raghav Rohila
  • Funding Raised To Date: $8 Mn
  • Investors: Blume Ventures, Micelio Fund, Anshuman Bapna, Anupam Mittal, Arjun Ravi Sheth, Ashish Goel, Bhuvan Gupta, Green Frontier Capital, NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus, and Climate Angels
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

ElectricPe offers charging infrastructure to customers. Through its app, EV owners can locate charging stations near them.

In November 2021, ElectricPe raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund. The round saw participation from Terra.do’s Anshuman Bapna, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Anchorage Capital’s Arjun Ravi Sheth, Urban Ladder’s Ashish Goel, and OfBusiness’ Bhuvan Gupta, among others.

Recently, Hero Electric partnered with ElectricPe to set up charging points pan-India for its customers. The charging infrastructure would be built in residential complexes, offices, malls, and other establishments. The partnership aims to strengthen the charging network and support EV adoption across India.

Prior to this, NoBroker had also partnered with ElectricPe to set up 1 Lakh electric charging stations in residential communities across India in 2022.

In January 2022, ElectricPe raised $5 Mn in its pre-series A round led by Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund, with participation from NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus and Climate Angels.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

18. Electrifi Mobility

  • Founded In: 2023
  • Founders: Kunal Mundra and Nikhil Aggarwal
  • Funding Raised To Date: NA
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Founded in 2023 by former Cars24 CEO Kunal Mundra, Electrifi Mobility is a full-stack EV leasing startup. It offers an end-to-end asset management solution covering asset selection, leasing, maintenance, post-sales support, refurbishment, and redeployment of EV assets. 

The startup is built in partnership with Grip Invest and its founder and CEO Nikhil Aggarwal. In just a few months of its operations, Electrifi announced multiple partnerships and developments.

In December, BluSmart and Electrifi Mobility partnered to deploy over 1,000 four-wheeler EVs.

Recently, the startup also announced the opening of Electrifi Labs, where detailed testing of EVs and batteries will be conducted so that they can be rebuilt from scratch or refurbished as required.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

19. Emflux Motors 

  • Founded In: 2016
  • Founders: Ankit Khatry, Varun Mittal, Vinay Raj Somashekar
  • Funding Raised To Date: $648K
  • Investors: Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Nitish Singh and Risabh Gupta
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Emflux Motors offers sustainable mobility solutions and other tech solutions for EVs. It sells an electronic bike Emflux One that has a maximum speed of 200 kmph and can cover up to 200 km on a single charge. Besides this, it sells technology stack such as battery management system, motors, motor controller, charger circuit, EVSE, master controller, and battery pack. 

In 2017, Emflux Motors raised $648K in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Jugnoo’s Nitish Singh, and Risabh Gupta.

The EV startup aims to create 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs in India by 2027. It primarily focuses on building brand and loyalty by creating high-performance electric vehicles.  It also plans to build an ecosystem of partner OEMs and become their tech and component supplier. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

20. EMO Energy

  • Founded In: 2022
  • Founders: Sheetanshu Tyagi and Rahul Patel
  • Funding Raised To Date: $1.5 Mn
  • Investors: Transition VC, Gruhas
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

With its integrated tech stack for two- and three-wheeler EVs and heavy-duty vehicles, deeptech startup EMO Energy is addressing two challenges adversely affecting EV adoption in India – safety and charging efficiency. 

The startup calls its technology platform ZEN, which comes with different applications such as ZEN PAC (swappable battery packs for two- and three-wheelers), ZEN Ctrl. (battery management system and connected software), ZEN Rig (battery packs for heavy-duty vehicles), and ZEN Wall (fully integrated battery inverter system for residential and light commercial use).

EMO Energy has successfully conducted pilot programmes with nearly 10 electric vehicle (EV) companies in the country, deploying approximately 100 batteries to date. The startup is rapidly expanding its network of partnerships. While most of its offerings are still in the pilot phase, EMO Energy has already started generating revenue by selling its battery packs, ranging from 2 kWh to 3 kWh, for two- and three-wheelers.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

21. EMotorad

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Rajib Gangopadhyay, Kunal Gupta, Aditya Oza, Sumedh Battewar
  • Funding Raised To Date: $23.2 Mn
  • Investor: Basant Lohia from TaraSafe, Green Frontier Capital, LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates, Panthera Growth Partners, Mahendra Singh Dhoni  
  • Headquarters: Pune
  • EMotorad sells electric cycles for daily commuting and casual rides. The startup uses local sourcing and manufacturing facilities in India to build electric cycles.

In October 2022, the Pune-based startup secured $2.9 Mn (INR 24 Cr) in its Pre-Series A funding round. During that time, it asserted that it sold more than 16K electric cycles in India since its inception. In November 2023, EMotorad raised $20 Mn (INR 166.8 Cr) as a part of its Series B funding round led by Panthera Growth Partners.

In early 2024, EMotorad also roped in former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an equity investor.

Its cap table also includes Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Alteria Capital, Ivy Growth associates and Basant Lohia from TaraSafe. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

22. ETrio 

  • Founded In: 2016
  • Founders: Sathya Yalamanchili, Deepak M V 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $3 Mn
  • Investor: Janardhan Rao
  • Headquarters: Hyderabad

Etrio offers commercial and non-commercial electricity mobility solutions. Its product portfolio includes electric kits, retrofitted electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), a three-wheeler EV named Touro, and two bicycles – Ashva and iSwitch. eLCVs have been launched to transform and electrify the logistics segment, while bicycles were launched to meet the demands of cargo and personal segments. 

In 2020, ETrio raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Triumph Global’s Janardhan Rao. The round saw participation from a cohort of Singapore-based HNIs. 

As per its website, ETrio has partnered with various companies including Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, DIAGEO, Lightning Logistics, Amplus Solar, and ZYPP Electric. 

It has also received certifications from various government bodies such as ARAI, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, among others. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

23. Euler Motors

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders:  Saurav Kumar
  • Funding Raised To Date:  $100 Mn+ 
  • Investors: Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures, Andrew Lee, Inventus India, Jetty Ventures, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Sujeet Kumar, QRG Investments and Holdings, ADB Ventures,
  • Headquarters: New Delhi 

Euler Motors offers commercial electrical mobility solutions through three-wheeler EVs, energy infrastructure, app and web-based software solutions. Its three-wheeler EV, Euler HiLoad, has the capacity to hold up to 688 Kg. The company claims it can get charged in 15 minutes and cover a distance of 151 Km on a single charge.

In the charging infra, the EV startup offers three types of chargers – Flash2, onboard charger, and Charge on Wheels. In the software segment, its app provides an array of services such as real-time GPS tracking, learning analytics, geo-fencing, and battery temperature, among others. 

In October 2022, Euler Motors raised about $60 Mn in its Series C round led by Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC. In November 2023, the startup raised about $14.4 Mn in its ongoing Series C extension round from British International Investment (BII) and Green Frontier Capital.  Existing investors, including ADB Ventures, Blume Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Alteria Capital, GIC Singapore, and QRG Holdings, also participated in the round.

It claims to have supplied more than 250 three-wheeler EVs to various companies including Ecom Express, BigBasket and Udaan.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

24. EVage

  • Founded In: 2014
  • Founders: Inderveer Singh, Pulkit Srivastava, Harnoor Kaur
  • Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
  • Investors: RedBlue Capital
  • Headquarters: Chandigarh

EVage offers commercial solutions for sustainable mobility. It plans to supply electric commercial vehicles to the delivery fleets of logistics companies. 

Recently, Evage raised $28 Mn in a seed funding round from RedBlue Capital. Its first model, X, is a one-tonne truck built for the commercial delivery market.

The startup claims to be the supplier to Amazon India’s delivery partners. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

25. Evera

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Nimish Trivedi, Vikas Bansal, Rajeev Tiwari
  • Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
  • Investors: Westova Capital, Devonshire Capital, IEG – Investment Banking Group
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

Evera is a New Delhi-based electric cab services provider that operates in both B2B and B2C verticals. Founded in 2019, the startup claims to have taken more than 40,000 rides, with a network of 43 charging stations in the national capital region. Its parent entity is Prakriti E-Mobility.

Unlike many ride-hailing companies, Evera employs full-time drivers rather than working with gig workers. The startup says the drivers can’t cancel rides since they’re paid by the startup.

In early 2023, Evera raised $7 Mn in multiple tranches as part of its Pre-Series A funding round, led by IEG Investment Banking Group, Direct Capital, and Westova Global.

Evera competes directly with BluSmart, which raised $42 Mn in May 2023.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

26. Exponent Energy

  • Founded In: 2020 
  • Founders: Arun Vinayak, Sanjay Byalal
  • Funding Raised To Date: $18 Mn 
  • Investors: YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Motherson Group, Rajesh Yabaji, Pushkar Singh
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Exponent Energy offers energy solutions to EV owners. The startup claims that its lithium-ion battery and charger combo can charge EVs up to 100% within 15 minutes.  

In December 2021, the EV startup raised $5 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by existing investor YourNest VC. The round saw participation from other investors including 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and Motherson Group. 

As per an Inc42 report, it also raised an undisclosed investment in September 2021 from investors including YourNest, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge, BlackBuck’s Rajesh Yabaji, and LetsTransport’s Pushkar Singh among others.

Before launching Exponent Energy, its cofounder Arun Vinayak worked with Ather Energy for seven years, while the other cofounder Sanjay Byalal had earlier worked with Ather Energy as well as HUL.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

27. Finayo

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Brajendra Singh Tomar and Yogesh Prakash
  • Funding Raised To Date: ~$2 Mn
  • Investors: F Mec International Financial Services Limited, Choice Finserv
  • Headquarters: Delhi NCR

Finayo is an EV financing startup that connects its lending partners with customers of EV retailers and OEMs through its AI-powered platform.

With a dedicated web dashboard for its lending partners, the platform allows them to see and manage borrower profiles and automate loan processing end-to-end. 

For EV borrower-facing entities, the startup provides a dashboard and mobile application for their executives to process loan applications and generate real-time loan offers for customers with multiple lenders. 

In December 2023, Finayo raised INR 16 Cr (approximately $1.9 Mn) in a mix of debt and equity funding from NBFCs and angel investor Manish Mehta.

Till November 2023, the EV lending startup had disbursed INR 20 Cr. In the forthcoming fiscal year, it plans to disburse INR 100 Cr with 60-70% of funds to be disbursed in the advancement of three-wheeler L3 and L5 EVs.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

28. Fresh Bus

  • Founded In: 2022
  • Founders: Sudhakar Reddy Chirra
  • Funding Raised To Date: 8 Mn+
  • Investors: ixigo, Kunal Shah, Sudarshan Venu, Deepak Garg
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded by former AbhiBus founder Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Fresh Bus is an electric bus (ebus) platform that operates in the intercity bus travel market.

The startup, backed by traveltech major ixigo, launched its ebus service in early 2023 by unveiling its first route between Bengaluru and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, the bus service is also functional on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada route while the startup plans to start its intercity ebus service on newer routes like Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, and Goa-Pune.

Fleet operator Fresh Bus has collaborated with EV manufacturer Olectra to procure its buses. 

In the growing ebus market, Fresh Bus competes with NueGo, Zingbus, and other major intercity bus platforms in the market. The startup has also built its own charging station network. In July 2024, Fresh Bus raised about $5.3 Mn as part of its Series A funding round.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

29. Fyn Mobility

  • Founded In: 2013
  • Founders: Visakh Sasikumar
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2.4 Mn 
  • Investors: Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, Sattva Group, Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication, Conscience Multi-Family Office, GAIL (India) Ltd,  Arshad Sayyad, Vijay Ratnaparke, Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Fyn Mobility, which was earlier known as Pi Beam, offers micro-mobility EV solutions and data analytics services for the EV ecosystem. Its product portfolio includes PIMO Utility two-wheeler, E-Trike, E-Kart, and E-Auto.  

In March 2022, Fyn reportedly raised $1.7 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. 

The round saw participation from investors including Sattva Group and Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication and Conscience Multi-Family Office, and angel investors Fidelity Investments’ Arshad Sayyad, Robert Bosch’s Vijay Ratnaparke, Royal Enfield’s Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.

Prior to this, the EV startup raised $705K in a bridge funding round from GAIL (India) Ltd. Currently, it has a presence in Bengaluru and Chennai. It plans to add 2,000 EVs by FY23. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

30. goEgoNetwork

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Sayantan Chakraborti, Dheeman Kadam, Pravin Kumar 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
  • Investors: Olivier Guillaumond, Rishi Bagla
  • Headquarters: Pune

goEgoNetwork offers energy solutions to customers. With its goME app, EV owners can locate the nearest charging stations and use them. 

In August 2021, goEgoNetwork raised $2 Mn (nearly INR 15 Cr) in seed funding to expand its existing electric charging network. The round saw participation from Bagla Group’s Rishi Bagla and Global Innovation Labs’ Olivier Guillaumond.

In 2021, goEgoNetwork is reported to have partnered with TVS Motor to promote EV infra in Himachal Pradesh. Following this, it set up an EV charging facility at Kaza in Spiti Valley to cater to the needs of EV scooters and cars in the region.

The EV startup has got certifications from various government bodies including ARAI and OCA.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

31. Grinntech 

  • Founded In: 2013
  • Founders: Nikhilesh Mishra, Puneet Jain
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn  
  • Investors: V Sumantran, Lakshmi Narayan, KS Manian
  • Headquarters: Chennai

Grinntech offers energy storage solutions to customers. It claims to provide an array of lithium-ion batteries such as IC Engine starter batteries, e-cycle and robotics batteries, two-wheeler batteries, three-wheeler batteries, small commercial vehicle batteries, light commercial vehicle batteries, and MHCV batteries, among others.

In 2020, Grinntech raised $2 Mn in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from investors including Ashok Leyland’s V Sumantran, Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayan, and NAPC’s KS Manian. During the same year, the startup also graduated from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

In 2020, Grinntech inked an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government involving an investment of INR 100 Cr. In the following year, it established a manufacturing facility in Chennai that can meet the demand of up to 400 MWh.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

32. Kabira Mobility

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Jaibir Siwach, Akash Siwach, and Sagar Siwach
  • Funding Raised To Date: $52 Mn
  • Investors: Al-Abdulla Group, Classic Group
  • Headquarters: Goa

Kabira Mobility is a Goa-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, which started a fledged sales of its ebikes in April 2022. It targets young bike enthusiasts. 

The startup has so far launched two models of its flagship bikes – KM3000 and KM4000. While its KM3000 bike model comes with a 4.14 kWh battery capacity and a range of 120 km per charge, the KM4000 model has a battery capacity of 4.60 kWh and offers a range of 150 km. 

Kabira Mobility also has plans to launch pro variants of its KM3000 and KM4000 models this year. Next year, the ebike startup is expected to launch a new model – KM5000 – in the cruiser bike category.

Earlier this year, the startup raised $50 Mn (around INR 412 Cr) in its Series A funding round Qatar-based Al-Abdulla Group, taking its total funding received to INR 430 Cr.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

33. Kazam EV

  • Founded In: 2020 
  • Founders: Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi
  • Funding Raised To Date: $4.53 Mn
  • Investors: Inflection Point Ventures, We Founder Circle 
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Kazam EV offers software solutions for energy infrastructure. Besides aligning with its own charging stations, the startup’s software supports charging stations of other EV companies as well. It additionally helps micro-entrepreneurs earn money by setting up charging stations in their parking areas. 

In 2021, Kazam raised INR 7 Cr ($0.93 Mn) in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Besides, it raised an undisclosed amount of investment from We Founder Circle. Earlier in May 2023, the startup picked up $3.6 Mn in a round led by Avaana Climate Fund.

As per its website, Kazam has set up over 7,000 charging stations in India. It has a presence in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Its products are essentially utilised by EV OEMs, EV fleet operators and micro-entrepreneurs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

34. Lithium Urban Technologies

  • Founded In: 2014
  • Founders: Sanjay Krishnan
  • Funding Raised To Date: $58 Mn
  • Investors: IFC, EverSource Capital 
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Lithium Urban offers sustainability solutions and charging infrastructure to business organisations. The startup essentially offers transport service through its fleet of EVs and associated charging stations.

As per its website, the startup is certified by ISO for implementing guidance on social responsibility. It presently has a fleet size of 2,000 vehicles and operates in over 15 cities, including Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. 

Through its tech stack, the startup claims to deliver 2X productivity, reduce carbon footprint and cut down transportation costs by 40%. As per Tofler, its revenue from operations stood at INR 53.6 Cr in FY20 as against INR 41.8 Cr in FY19. However, its loss widened to INR 21.1 Cr in FY20 as compared to INR 15.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

A few days ago, it reportedly partnered with Tata Motors to deploy 5000 XPRES T Electric Sedans across India for employee transportation.

In March 2022, EverSource Capital, which manages India’s largest climate impact funds, acquired a majority stake in the startup for about $50 Mn. Prior to this, the startup raised $8 Mn from World Bank’s investment arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), as an equity investor. It raised additional capital from other investors as well. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

35. Log9 Materials

  • Founded In: 2015
  • Founders:Akshay Singhal, Kartik Hajela and Pankaj Sharma
  • Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn
  • Investors: Amara Raja Batteries, Petronas Venture, Oxyzo Financial Services
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Incubated at IIT-Roorkee, deeptech startup Log9 Materials manufactures batteries for EVs and energy storage. The startup is also one of the few Li-ion cell manufacturers in the country.

In April 2023, Log9 Materials launched the country’s first commercial cell manufacturing facility at its campus in Bengaluru with an initial capacity of 50 MWh. The startup is working on both lithium titanate oxide (LTO) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell technologies.

Log9 Materials’ batteries have powered vehicles of EV manufacturers like Quantum Energy and Hala Mobility, along with the electric fleet of last-mile logistics companies such as Maersk, Blue Dart, and BluWheelz.

In January 2023, the startup raised $40 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Amara Raja Batteries. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

36. Lohum

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Rajat Verma, Justin Lemmon, Gazanfar Safvi
  • Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+
  • Investors: Baring Private Equity Partners, Talbros Automotive Components, Stride Ventures
  • Headquarters: Noida

Lohum is a producer of lithium-ion battery raw materials, which it achieves by recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining.

Working in a closed-loop recycling model, Lohum acquires used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, stationary storage, and consumer electronics. These batteries are then tested and, if deemed reusable, they are given a second life. If the batteries reach their end-of-life, Lohum recycles the battery materials and sells the resulting metals and chemicals to various customers across the supply chain.

Since its inception, the startup has raised over $20 Mn in funding. Lohum recently said that it has collaborated with insurtech unicorn ACKO to optimise the battery insurance and financing costs for the customers.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

37. Magenta Mobility

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Maxson Lewis, Darryl Dias
  • Funding Raised To Date: $35 Mn
  • Investors: bp Ventures, Morgan Stanley India, JITO Angel Network, HPCL, Indian American philanthropist Dr Kiran Patel
  • Headquarters: Mumbai

From being a solution provider in the EV charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility has pivoted to becoming an end-to-end integrated emobility solution provider. 

Currently, it operates over 2K electric three-wheelers and four-wheelers in the L5 and N1 category for last-mile delivery, which it is planning to expand to 5K vehicles by the end of FY24. Magenta Mobility runs its cargo delivery and logistics services in 18 cities, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Pune Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. The startup is not a manufacturer and sources its three-wheeler EVs from Altigreen Propulsion Labs, Euler Motors, Mahindra, and Bajaj, and four-wheeler EVs from Tata Motors and Switch Mobility.

In its charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility manages 72 charging depots to cater to the charging needs of its EV fleet.

Besides, it also develops software technology to enable this entire emobility ecosystem.

In April 2023, Magenta Mobility raised $22 Mn (about INR 180.6 Cr) in its Series A1 funding round from bp Ventures and Morgan Stanley India infrastructure.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

38. Matter

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli, and Saran Babu
  • Funding Raised To Date: $45 Mn+
  • Investors:  Info Edge’s Capital 2B Fund 1, Climate Angel Fund
  • Headquarters: Ahmedabad

Founded in 2019 by Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli and Saran Babu, Matter is an electric mobility and energy storage-focussed startup. 

The startup boasts a fully functional electric motorcycle AERA, which it launched earlier this year. The ebike has two variants – AERA 5000 and AERA 5000+ – which come with a range of up to 125 km.  

Not just this, Matter, last year, also unveiled what it claims is the country’s first active liquid-cooled two-wheeler EV battery MatterEnergy 1.0. It also closed a $10 Mn in an initial funding round in 2022.

In July 2024, it raised $35 Mn (about INR 290 Cr) in its ongoing Series B funding round, from US-based Helena, Japan Airlines & Translink Innovation Fund, and other existing investors. Matter will raise $65 Mn-$70 Mn overall in the Series B round.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

39. Metastable Materials

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Shubham Vishvakarma, Saurav Goyal, Manikumar Uppala
  • Funding Raised To Date: Undisclosed 
  • Investors: Sequoia Capital’s Surge,  Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures, Akshay Singhal, Sanjeev Rangrass
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Metastable Materials has developed a one-of-its-kind mechanism, a chemical-free integrated carbothermal reduction process, for extracting and recycling materials from lithium-ion batteries in a more economical and efficient manner. 

The startup was part of the eighth cohort of Sequoia’s Surge accelerator program.

In April 2023, the cleantech startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Seed round from Sequoia Capital’s Surge and other venture capitalists like Speciale Invest and Theia Ventures. 

Metastable Materials is now setting up a 21,000 sq ft battery recycling facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

40. MoEVing

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Mragank Jain, Vikash Mishra
  • Funding Raised To Date:  $10 Mn 
  • Investors:  D.S. Brar, Anshuman Maheshwary, Srihari Raju Kalidindi, Ashish Goel, Krishnadeva Veerareddy, BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain
  • Headquarters: Gurugram

MoEVing offers intra-city last-mile delivery solutions, energy infrastructure and fintech solutions. It provides delivery services to companies operating in ecommerce, e-grocery, FMCG, logistics and D2C. Besides, it also works along with OEMs, drivers and financial institutions to address the problems of EV owners when they adopt EVs.

In May, the EV startup secured $5 Mn through equity and debt financing in its ongoing seed funding round. Investors like BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain from Nazara Technologies participated in the round. 

MoEving has a presence in 10 cities in India including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. It aims to add 10,000 EVs and 100 charging hubs in 30 cities by 2023. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

41. Motovolt Mobility

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Tushar Choudhary 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $1.9 Mn 
  • Investors: Wami Capital, PPAP Automotive, Vikrampati Singhania, Ankur Agarwal, Vikas Bagaria
  • Headquarters: Kolkata

Motovolt offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers. Some of its electric bikes are URBN e-Bike, Kivo Easy, Ice, and Kivo 24. 

Recently, the startup also launched an electric bike called URBN for its consumers. The new electric bike has removable twin batteries, weighing about 10 kg each.

In November last year, it bagged $1.9 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Wami Capital. Earlier, it had shared plans to invest INR 200 Cr into its business (in 2023) to enhance product offerings and expand its facility as well as sales network. It claims to have more than 100 POS across the country.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

42. Oben Electric

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Madhumita Agrawal, Dinkar Agarwal, and Sagar Thakkar
  • Funding Raised To Date: $10.7 Mn
  • Investors: Stride Ventures, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Mumbai Angels, We Founder Circle
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Currently, the electric two-wheeler market is predominantly dominated by escooter manufacturers. However, the electric motorcycle sector is relatively limited, with only a few companies operating in this space.

Oben Electric is one of those few startups that are manufacturing electric bikes to make a major shift in a market ruled by the stalwarts like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, and Eicher Motors.

Its flagship electric motorcycle Oben Rorr comes with a top speed of 100 km per hour and a 4.4 kWh battery capacity that can fully charge in two hours.

In the electric motorcycle manufacturing space, Oben Electric currently competes with Revolt Motors, Ultraviolette, Matter, Odysse, Hop Electric, Kabira Mobility, and Orxa Energies.

The startup has raised around $10.7 Mn (over 88 Cr) in total funding so far. In its extended Pre-Series A funding round, it raised $4.88 Mn (INR 72 Cr) in June 2023.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

43. Odysse Electric

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Nemin Vora
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: Mumbai

Electric mobility startup Odysse is a part of the Vora group of companies that has a vast line of businesses with a primary focus on automobile-based products. As a two-wheeler EV manufacturer, Odysse makes both electric scooters and motorcycles.

In the motorcycle category, the startup has two models – Evoqis and Vader. In the escooter category, Odysse’s main two-wheeler models are E2go, Hawk, and V2.

Odysse also manufactures a last-mile delivery escooter electric scooter, TROT.

Hence, the startup competes with the major players across the EV two-wheeler market, including Revolt, Oben Electric, Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Hero Electric as well as the likes of Yulu.

The company has set up its EV manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In July 2023, Odysse announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart to help customers pre-book and purchase Odysse’s EVs more seamlessly from the marketplace.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

44. Ohm Mobility

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Nikhil Nair
  • Funding Raised To Date: $400K
  • Investors: Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, Catalyst Fund, Kunal Shah
  • Headquarters: Bangalore

Ohm Mobility is an end-to-end EV-focussed financing platform, which aims to help EV players to get easier access to institutional capital while enabling lenders to discover, verify, and deploy capital to EV companies. It is building a technology platform to connect EV buyers with capital providers.

In May 2023, Ohm Mobility raised INR 3 Cr in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler India. The funding round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and angels like Sagar Gubbi, Anshuman Bapna Mathew Chako, and Karishma Menon.

Its current client portfolio includes Race Energy, Eveez, and Hala Mobility, among others. The startup competes with the likes of Vidyut and Turno in the space.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

45. Okinawa Autotech

  • Founded In: 2015
  • Founders: Jeetender Sharma 
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: Gurugram

Okinawa offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup offers EV vehicles–RIDGE+, PRAISE PRO, IPRAISE+, R30, Okinawa R30 and LITE. Its high-speed scooters hold various features such as detachable batteries, fast charging, central locking, app connectivity, etc. Its EV vehicles are priced at INR 50K-INR 1.14 Lakh.

As per LinkedIn, it has over 350 dealerships across India so far. It has received a FAME II subsidy from the Indian government and also, got IATD certification for design and manufacturing. It also partnered with the Indian Navy, Delhi Transport Corporation and Tirupati Smart City.

It claims to have sold more than 1 lakh EV scooters since its inception. It has two manufacturing plants in Rajasthan; one plant with a capacity of more than 1 lakh units is in Bhiwandi while the other with 0.5 Mn units is in Alwar. 

Since It’s a bootstrapped venture, the startup has not got external financing so far. However, it is reportedly looking at raising INR 400-INR 500 Cr from American and European private equity players.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

46. Ola Electric 

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal
  • Funding Raised To Date: $1 Bn  
  • Investors: Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, Tiger Global and Matrix India, SoftBank, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Bank of Baroda, Falcon Edge, IIFL PE, Cars 24, Moglix, Dealshare, VSS Investco, Pawan Munjal, Ratan Tata, Rahul Mehta
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola Electric offers two-wheelers EVs and energy infrastructure. Founded in 2017, the EV startup manufacturing facility, Ola Future Factory, has a production capacity of 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs per annum and deploys over 3000 robots. 

Recently, Ola Electric was also selected for receiving incentives from the Indian government under the $2.4 Bn PLI scheme to manufacture advanced chemistry cell batteries. A few days later, it also invested in Israel-based battery technology company StoreDot to have access to its XFC battery technology that charges batteries in five minutes. 

In January 2022, Ola Electric had completed its $200 Mn Series C funding round at a valuation of $5 Bn. The round saw participation from investors including Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, and Edelweiss, among others. In October 2023, the company announced closing a $384 Mn funding round in a mix of equity and debt led by Temasek and the State Bank of India.  

Ola Electric, which is currently leading the electric two-wheeler market, is now preparing to get listed on the bourses in 2024 and filed its DRHP with SEBI in December 2023 for an over INR 5,500 Cr IPO.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

47. Omega Seiki Mobility

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Uday Narang
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

Omega Seiki Mobility is an EV manufacturer working across multiple vehicle categories including two-wheelers, cargo and passenger three-wheelers, and trucks tailored for commercial use. Its EV models include Rage+, Stream, and Mopido. 

With an investment of $75 Mn in total, the company has established R&D facilities in India and across other global locations – Thailand, South Korea, Europe, and Latin America. Omega Seiki has manufacturing facilities in Faridabad and Pune.

The company is a part of the Anglian Omega Group, which consists of more than 20 companies.

 Omega Seiki Mobility claims to have sold more than 8,000 EVs so far and operates a vast network of more than 190 dealerships across India. As per Vahan data, Omega Seiki Pvt Ltd’s total EV registrations were 3,579 units in 2023.

The company claims that it is also foraying into the premium electric two-wheeler segment soon – a category that Ola Electric, Ather, and TVS Motor currently dominate.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

48. Pure EV 

  • Founded In: 2015
  • Founders: Rohit Vadera, Nishanth Dongari
  • Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn+
  • Investors: VC Nannapaneni, Bennett Coleman, Hindustan Times Media 
  • Headquarters: Telangana

PURE offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy storage systems. It manufactures five EVs models including eTryst 350, epluto, epluto7G, ETranceNEO and ETrance+.   

Its electric bike, eTryst 350 is powered by 4.0 KW peak and 3.0 KW nominal motors. The EV bike’s top speed is 85 kmph and has a load capacity of 160 kg. The epluto scooter is powered with 250 Watt brushless hub motor, and has a top speed of 25 kmph. The epluto7G is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. 

The startup graduated from IIT Hyderabad. In February 2024, the startup raised $8 Mn in a fresh funding round led by Bennett Coleman, Hindustan Times Media Ventures, with participation from Ushodaya Enterprises and some HNIs.

The EV maker claims to have sold over 70,000 vehicles through a network of 140+ outlets so far, operating across India and exporting to South Asian countries. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

49. RACE Energy 

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Arun Sreyas, Gautham M
  • Funding Raised To Date: $6 Mn
  • Investors:  Huddle, Prophetic Ventures, Micelio, growX Ventures
  • Headquarters: Hyderabad

RACE Energy builds retrofit kits for transforming conventional three-wheeler vehicles into EVs. It also provides energy infrastructure via its battery-swapping stations.

The startup raised $1.3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures in 2021. The round saw participation from Huddle, Prophetic Ventures and BITSian Angels, among others. 

The capital, raised from the round, was infused in research and development (R&D), enhancing the startup’s swapping technology and infrastructure. Prior to this, it raised $500K in a seed funding round from growX ventures, Prophetic Ventures and some angel investors.

The company raised $3 Mn in a pre-series A round led by growx Ventures with participation from Micelio Mobility, Huddle and other angel investors in 2023. The funds will be used for market expansion and for building a new facility.

It aims to set up an extensive battery-swapping network in India and foray into other continents by ​2023.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

50. Revfin

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Sameer Aggarwal
  • Funding Raised To Date: $15.4 Mn
  • Investors: DFC, Lets Venture, Dheeraj Jain, Dheeraj Jain
  • Headquarters: Delhi

Revfin is a Delhi-based startup that is trying to make EV financing easier. It provides loans for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and other small EVs.

The startup is focussed on helping individual drivers in Tier II and III towns get loans for commercial EVs. It largely provides financing for passenger transportation, ecommerce, and cargo delivery EVs.

Revfin has its own NBFC to issue loans. In June 2023, the startup raised $5 Mn in debt from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Revfin claims to be witnessing almost 4X year-on-year growth in its loan book currently.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

51. Revolt Motors 

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Rahul Sharma 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+ (approx)
  • Investors: RattanIndia Group
  • Headquarters: Haryana

Revolt offers sustainable mobility solutions across India. The startup manufactures AI-enabled EV bikes – RV 400 and RV 300. Its EV bikes are equipped with onboard charging and portable charging features. The RV 400 has a 3.24 kWh lithium battery while RV 300 has a 2.7 kWh lithium battery. 

The startup also offers app-based battery swapping stations named Revolt Switch Stations where EV bike owners can exchange their batteries for a charged one. It has retail stores in multiple cities of India, including Jaipur, Surat, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Kochi and Hubli. 

In April 2021, it secured INR 150 Cr (around $20.12 Mn at then exchange rates) from RattanIndia Group to expand its footprint in India and the South Asian market. With this investment, RattanIndia acquired a 43% stake in the Haryana-based EV startup, while Rajiv Rattan, chairman of RattanIndia Enterprises, joined its board as a non-executive chairman.

Earlier this year, RattanIndia acquired Revolt entirely, making it a wholly-owned subsidy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

52. River

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Aravind Mani and Vipin George
  • Funding Raised To Date: $68 Mn
  • Investors: Al Futtaim Group, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures, Yamaha Motor Corp
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

River is an electric two-wheeler manufacturer that launched its first escooter model India in February 2023. The startup ran operations in stealth mode for the last two years while working on its product development and R&D.

River’s Indie comes with a motor that has a peak power of 6.7 kW and can reach a top speed of 90 km per hour. The current vehicle model has a 4 kWh battery with a range of 120 km. 

River throws direct competition to the escooter majors like Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, Pure EV, and others.

In June 2023, River raised $15 Mn (INR 124 Cr) and in February 2024, it raised another $40 Mn in its Series B funding round. So far, the startup has raised $68 Mn in three funding rounds.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

53. SmartE 

  • Founded In: 2015 
  • Founders: Goldie Srivastava 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $18.3 Mn 
  • Investors: Mitsui and Co, Ecotransit Investments International, Shell Foundation
  • Headquarters: Delhi

SmartE offers last-mile connectivity to commuters. The startup operates a fleet of electric vehicles in more than 10 cities in India, including Faridabad, Noida, Gurugram, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. 

In January 2022, SmartE along with Revfin, an EV-focused lending startup, got an undisclosed amount of investment from the Shell Foundation to extend new loans to three-wheelers EVs on its platform. In July 2019, it raised INR 100 Cr in a Series B funding round from Mitsui and Co. Prior to this, it had raised $5 Mn in Series A round from Ecotransit Investments International.  

According to its website, SmartE has partnered with 17 companies such as Kinetic Green, NTPC, SBI, HSIIDC, ACME, Sun Mobility, Exicom and AMARA RAJA. It further claims to have worked with more than 25 clients, including BigBasket, Flipkart, SpicXpress, Milkbasket, and Blowhorn.

______________________________________________________________________________________

54. Snap-E Cabs

  • Founded In: 2022
  • Founders: Mayank Bindal and Jaydip Mukherjee
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
  • Investors: NA
  • Headquarters: Kolkata

The 2022-founded Snap-E Cabs is an electric ride-hailing business that competes with the likes of BluSmart as well as Uber and Ola in the fast-evolving Indian ride-hailing market.

The bootstrapped startup initiated its operations in August 2022 and achieved a total fleet size of 600 electric cars by November 2023. 

Currently running in Kolkata only, Snap-E plans to deploy 2,000-3,000 more cars in the city in the next two years. However, instead of expanding its operations further in Tier-I cities, Snap-E aims to bring its electric cab services to cities in Raipur and Bhuvaneshwar.

It achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 11 Cr in just six months till October 2023. Snap-E is in talks with some VC firms and angel investors to raise some external funding.

______________________________________________________________________________________

55. Sheru

  • Founded In: 2019
  • Founders: Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan, and Shikhar Sharma
  • Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
  • Investors: Micelio, Smile Group, AdvantEdge
  • Headquarters: Delhi

A brainchild of Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan and Shikhar Sharma, Sheru is a new-generation energy storage startup that has integrated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with battery swapping infrastructure. 

The startup initially operated battery swapping infrastructure for e-rickshaws. In 2023, Sheru launched a virtual cloud storage network, NetBat, which aggregates idle EV batteries to create energy storage facilities for utility companies. 

Power producers can simply tap into Sheru’s platform to store energy virtually as per their demand and on a pay-per-use basis. 

Sheru’s range of products and services also cater to battery manufacturers, financiers, resellers, and distribution companies. 

In June 2023, Sheru announced a partnership with intercity bus service provider, zingbus. Recently, Sheru also launched EnergyBox, a battery charging dock designed to charge detachable electric two-wheeler batteries at home, while also providing power backup for homes.

______________________________________________________________________________________

56. SUN Mobility 

  • Founded In: 2016
  • Founders: Chetan Maini, Uday Khemka
  • Funding Raised To Date: $50 Mn 
  • Investors: Vitol
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

SUN Mobility, a joint venture of Maini Group and Sun Group, offers energy infrastructure. It manufactures lithium-ion batteries, named Smart Batteries, for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and buses. 

Through its app, EV drivers can locate its battery swapping stations and Quick Interchange Solutions, and swap their batteries. 

As per its website, the startup has partnered with various companies such as Omega Seiki, Vitol, Zypp Electric, Tata Power-DDL, Zyngo, Bosch, Piaggio, IndianOil, Uber, SmartE, Microsoft, and Ashok Leyland. It presently has 65 swapping stations in 15 cities in India, including Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

In October 2021, it reportedly secured $50 Mn in funding from Vitol to expand its footprint in India and abroad. 

It aims to set up 500 battery-swapping stations in the country by the end of the current year. It further plans to launch new products to improve the battery-swapping experience and strengthen its leadership.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

57. TORK Motors

  • Founded In: 2010
  • Founders:  Kapil Shelke
  • Funding Raised To Date: $10 Mn+
  • Investors: Ratan Tata, Maxis Capital, Bharat Forge, Bhavish Aggarwal

TORK Motors is an electric motorcycle manufacturer. Registered in 2010, the EV startup also claims to be the first electric motorcycle maker in the country.

In early 2024, TORK Motors raised $6 Mn in a fresh funding round from Maxis Capital. The startup claims to have filed over 50 patents and designs so far. It also manufactures powertrains for two- and three-wheelers.

In 2023, Log9 and TORK Motors partnered to promote interoperable charging infrastructure in the country under the Bharat Charge Alliance (BCA).

As per Vahan data, the EV bike OEM saw a total vehicle registration of 1,589 units in 2023, up almost 400% YoY.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

58. TSUYO

  • Founded In: 2020
  • Founders: Lalit Baid, Vijay Kumar 
  • Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn+
  • Investors: Ramkrishna Forgings
  • Headquarters: Delhi

TSUYO Manufacturing, a subsidiary of JYVA Engineering, makes powertrain solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) in India and other Asian nations.  

The startup produces BLDC motors and controllers for three-wheeler electric vehicles. It also builds customised EV solutions for companies, according to its website.

In December last year, Kolkata-based supplier Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. acquired a 51% stake in TSUYO for around INR 100 Cr (around $12.07 Mn at the then exchange rates). 

Ramkrishna Forgings had said that it would invest heavily in TSUYO in the next five years to increase its turnover to around INR 500 Cr by the end of the fifth year. 

______________________________________________________________________________________

59. Ultraviolette Automotive

  • Founded In: 2016
  • Founders: Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan  
  • Funding Raised To Date: $20.56 Mn
  • Investors: TVS, Zoho Corporation, Kumar Vembu, 
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ultraviolette Automotive offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy infrastructure to customers. The EV startup sells a zero-emission electric bike named F77 and batteries on its website. 

In December 2021, Ultraviolette Automotive raised INR 112.5 Cr (about $15 Mn) from TVS Motor and Zoho. While TVS invested INR 75 Cr, Zoho pumped INR 38 Cr into the startup.  

Prior to this, Ultraviolette Automotive got an investment of INR 30 Cr from TVS in Series B funding round. In October 2020, it got an undisclosed amount of investment from GoFrugal’s Kumar Vembu as a part of a Series B round. Vembu also invested in the EV startup’s Series A round.

In 2018, Ultraviolette Automotive raised $862K (INR 6 Cr) in Series A round from TVS Motor Company. Earlier in 2017, TVS invested $700K (INR5 Cr) for a 14.78% stake in the EV startup.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

60. Vecmocon

  • Founded In: 2016
  • Founders:  Peeyush Asati, Adarshkumar B and Shivam Wankhede 
  • Funding Raised To Date: Funding: $5.2 Mn
  • Investors: Tiger Global, Blume Ventures, Tessellate Ventures
  • Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Vecmocon offers battery management systems, vehicle intelligence services, chargers and instrument clusters. Its plug-and-play service integrates into electric vehicles’ OEMs. It is currently offering these services to electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, forklifts and tractors.

According to its website, the EV startup will soon begin offering motor controllers and fleet management for electric vehicles. 

In October, the EV startup secured $5.2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and other angel investors. The startup said it powered 5K EVs to date and aims to power more than 500K electric vehicles by 2025.

In 2019, it secured $300K in its seed funding round led by Tessellate Ventures.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

61. Vidyut Tech

  • Founded In: 2021
  • Founders: Xitij Kothi and Gaurav Srivastava
  • Funding Raised To Date: $14 Mn+
  • Investors: 3one4 Capital, Force Ventures, Veda VC, Kunal Shah, Sahil Barua
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded in 2021, Vidyut Tech is a commercial EV financing and vehicle lifecycle management platform, which aims to make commercial EV ownership more accessible and affordable.

The startup is trying to solve some of the biggest problems in the EV financing space by decoupling batteries from vehicles while underwriting loans for EVs. Given there is a gap in the longevity of EV batteries and vehicle chassis, Vidyut Tech believes that this approach works better for most customers in the L5 category of vehicles that it caters to.

Besides a traditional term loan plan, Vidyut provides buyers with a hybrid financing model for vehicle loans with a battery subscription. This brings down the upfront cost of the EVs by 40%-50%.

Using battery health data and its proprietary underwriting model, Vidyut extracts a high residual value for EVs, enabling customers to get an effective interest rate of 7% while buying the vehicles.

Recently, in February, it raised $10 Mn as a part of its Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital. Vidyut now plans to expand its offerings in EV insurance, after-sales, servicing maintenance, and even charging and resale.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

62. Yulu

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri, Hemant Gupta
  • Funding Raised To Date: $125 Mn+
  • Investors: Blume Ventures, 3One4 Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Incubate Fund India, Magna, Bajaj
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru

Yulu offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. It provides emobility solutions in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad while also offering an AI-enabled battery-as-a-service (BaaS) to its electric vehicle users through the ‘Yuma Energy’ battery swapping stations.

The startup offers Yulu Miracle for urban commuters and Yulu DeX for last-mile delivery. Besides, in 2023, the company also launched Yulu Wynn to provide its customers with the experience of owning its bikes.

In 2022, Yulu raised $82 Mn in its Series B funding round led by the Magna, with participation from Bajaj Auto. In February 2024, the startup secured another $19.25 Mn from the same strategic investors.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

63. Zen Mobility

  • Founded In: 2018
  • Founders: Namit Jain
  • Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
  • Investors: NA

Zen Mobility designs, engineers, and manufactures custom light electric vehicles (LEVs) with an aim to transform logistics and urban mobility. 

Zen Mobility is currently piloting the delivery of grocery and dairy products for startups, including BigBasket and Country Delight, via its newly launched mobile refrigeration unit, Micro Pod ThermoFlex. 

Its Micro Pod ThermoFlex can store products in a range of 15 to -15 degrees Celsius, depending on the needs. 

The startup is aiming to raise $10 Mn in its maiden funding round from a strategic partner.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

64. Zypp Electric

  • Founded In: 2017
  • Founders: Akash Gupta, Rashi Agarwal
  • Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn
  • Investors: Northern Arc, 9Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Nanavati Family Office, We Founder Circle, Riso Capital Fund, Dholakia Ventures, Venture Catalysts, IAN Fund, Tarun Saraf, Rahul Khera, Arjun Seth, Mark Joseph
  • Headquarters: Gurugram

Zypp Electric offers B2B delivery and shared mobility services to consumers. It provides electric scooters for last-mile delivery to more than 50 companies, including Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, PharmEasy, Delhivery, and Spencers, among others. 

Earlier, it had shared that with 6,000 electric vehicles on the road, it helped its partners complete more than 5 Mn deliveries in the financial year 2021-22.

In September 2021, it bagged $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 9Unicorns and Anthill Ventures. 

It has a headcount of 400 employees and plans to double its employee base by September 2023. 

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list.


Last updated on July 22, 2024

The post 64 EV Startups That Are Helping Keep The Earth Healthy And Clean appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Union Budget 2024: Now’s The Time To Broaden PLI Focus, Urges India’s Electronics Manufacturing Industry https://inc42.com/features/union-budget-2024-nows-the-time-to-broaden-pli-focus-urges-indias-electronics-manufacturing-industry/ Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:12:27 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=468983 The startup ecosystem, the wider business world, and the taxpayers are brimming with hopes about what the Narendra Modi government…]]>

The startup ecosystem, the wider business world, and the taxpayers are brimming with hopes about what the Narendra Modi government will focus on in the upcoming Union Budget 2024-25. 

In the recent past, the electronics manufacturing industry received a significant boost from the central government policies and its ‘Make In India’ initiatives. From smartphone manufacturing to EVs, and semiconductors to large-scale electronics hardware manufacturing, several sectors have become the beneficiaries of these policy drives.

For instance, even during the interim Budget in February this year, the government said it would increase the allocation for semiconductor and display manufacturing development by more than 2X. 

It also announced a 30% higher allocation for 2024-25 for production-linked incentives (PLI) across all sectors and a double allocation for the production and development of green hydrogen and solar power. 

While the sunrise industries are largely pleased with the government’s policy boost so far, there are multiple gaps that need to be addressed. One such issue is with the PLI benefits for electronics component manufacturing companies, which many in the manufacturing sector feel need to be fine-tuned and extended to other categories. 

Extend PLI Across The Value Chain

As per India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) data, India’s electronics manufacturing output has reached a record-breaking $115 Bn market in FY24, with $29.1 Bn in electronics exports, making electronics the fifth-largest export category from India.

Speaking to Inc42, Kaushik Mudda, cofounder and CEO of deeptech startup Ethereal Machines pointed out that the PLI schemes today are limited to the top few beneficiaries in the end product manufacturing, which needs to trickle down to the rest of the ecosystem.

“Companies like us are manufacturing products for some of the top electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies but we do not qualify under PLI. Like us, there are multiple other manufacturing service providers in the second layer who help the top-facing EMS companies. If the government wants the whole EMS sector to grow, it needs to ensure that the whole ecosystem is covered and PLI benefits trickle down to the whole supply chain ecosystem,” Mudda said.

Ethereal Machines claims to be the only company in India developing 5-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machining technology. This is considered to be a bedrock for electronics component manufacturing from consumer electronics products to aerospace.

“While the budget announcements are awaited, I think the government’s preliminary steps are on the right track as it has covered the first layer to start with. But if it wants to achieve the scale it is looking at in a very short span of time, the government should start thinking a bit broader,” Mudda added.

It is pertinent to note that the ICEA has also submitted its recommendation to the government to bring components used in electronic goods under the PLI scheme.

In its recommendation to the centre earlier this month, ICEA said that it was imperative to develop a components and sub-assembly ecosystem in order to build a sustainable and robust electronics manufacturing industry in the country.

“The government should provide appropriate policy and financial support for building large-scale components and sub-assembly ecosystem, with a longer gestation and incentive period.” 

As per the electronics body, this would not only offer long-term policy predictability and certainty but create an environment for business continuity, enabling job creation, advanced skill development, integration into the electronics global value chains, increasing exports, and others.

Shifting the focus to the promising green hydrogen sector in India, Newtrace cofounder and CEO, Prasanta Sarkar, also pointed at a similar problem and said that the majority portion of the INR 19,744 Cr PLI budget for green hydrogen today goes for the production of green hydrogen molecule and manufacturing of electrolysers at scale, which in a way, favours importing existing technologies.

“A very small portion of it goes into capacity building within the country in terms of developing next-gen technologies with improved performance, visible supply chain and owning the IP to navigate any possible geo-political challenges or disruptions in the future,” he said. 

Sarkar believes policymaking should lean towards internal capacity building and developments as well owning the IP rights within the country to secure energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a reduction in tax and tariffs is another important aspect that startups in the manufacturing industry are also looking forward to. ICEA has also recommended a reduction in input tariffs for electronics manufacturing.

“Sustaining the tremendous growth in mobile phone production and exports requires matching the competitive tariff regimes of China and Vietnam. Current high tariffs increase manufacturing costs in India by 7-7.5% on the bill of materials (BoM), deterring local ecosystem development, hampering exports and adversely impacting job creation,” according to Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of ICEA.

Manufacturing Industry Eyes Tax Benefits

Manufacturing as a industry has a cascading effect across sectors. For instance, the electric vehicle sector, which is a critical part of future economic growth, needs a thriving domestic manufacturing industry for components and parts. 

Amitabh Saran, cofounder and CEO of three-wheeler EV manufacturer Altigreen Propulsion Labs, believes that the central government should consider increasing funding and tax incentives like tax holidays, accelerated depreciation rates, credits for expenses, reducing GST for private sector electronics R&D investments.

In this regard, EV original equipment manufacturers have had a long-standing demand to slash GST rates on batteries from 18% to 5%, at par with the GST on the sale of vehicles. 

Ahead of the interim Budget, some industry players told Inc42 that along with GST, there was also a need to ease the taxation on imports of battery components and reduce customs duty for cells and other key components to help flourish this ecosystem further. However, no such announcements came at the time.  

In the upcoming budget, the broader electronics manufacturing industry is optimistic about certain reductions in taxes and tariffs.

Ashok Rajpal, managing director of Ambrane India, said, “Critical investments in infrastructure and technology will be pivotal for the growth of the electronics manufacturing sector. Tax incentives and streamlined regulatory processes are essential for sustaining sectoral health.” 

Meanwhile, Rashid K, director at Genrobotic Innovations, one of the leading Indian robotics startups, said that lowering the GST rate of manufacturing materials and other raw materials to below 18% would offer much-needed relief and promote an atmosphere that is more favourable for the development of new technologies. 

What Else Can The Government Do To Boost The Industry?

While the industry is largely positive on the steps taken by the central government so far, the scope for improvement is high.

For instance, Saran believes that the government’s PLI and Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) schemes are good schemes for the promotion of the electronics industry in India, but the centre must simplify foreign direct investment (FDI) policies for the electronics sector and help in export promotion schemes to assist in international market access

Besides, he emphasised the need to focus on promoting and creating a strong skilled pool of resources in the electronics manufacturing space, including the technicians, IT and electronics courses in educational institutions. 

He also said that the country needs to develop dedicated electronics manufacturing clusters in different parts of India.

With the Indian government eyeing to build self-reliance across its electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, which would ultimately boost all the allied sectors including EV and robotics, there is a common sentiment among market leaders that the first generation of these manufacturing companies requires more focussed incentivisation. 

“The first generation of electronics or semiconductors that we are going to develop and manufacture in the country are not going to be the most advanced ones globally but we will have to find use cases to create an ecosystem for them so that they get adopted and are incentivised to go back and further improve those products. Only then, over the next few years, India will have the advanced, globally competitive products,” added Newtrace’s Sarkar.

The post Union Budget 2024: Now’s The Time To Broaden PLI Focus, Urges India’s Electronics Manufacturing Industry appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Inside Feminine Hygiene Brand Soothe’s Reverse D2C Playbook https://inc42.com/startups/inside-feminine-hygiene-brand-soothes-reverse-d2c-playbook/ Sun, 21 Jul 2024 05:30:35 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=468789 In India’s crowded D2C market, which demands a strong online presence and where innovation and product differentiation are pivotal to…]]>

In India’s crowded D2C market, which demands a strong online presence and where innovation and product differentiation are pivotal to success, Delhi NCR-based women’s hygiene startup Soothe Healthcare has become an INR 100 Cr+ brand all while refuting the rules of the game. 

Instead of building a strong online presence first, the CEO and founder Sahil Dharia chose to take the road less travelled, and fortunes did favour the brave. 

“We aced the hard thing first, which was to build a strong offline business. But now, we are transitioning from offline to online, and we are witnessing everybody else struggling to move offline from online,” said Dharia.

Incorporated in 2013, Soothe Healthcare has a strong presence at offline retail stores. The startup, which largely caters to semi-urban and rural markets in the country, has now set its eyes on taking urban Indian households by storm with its online play.

In the offline space, Soothe claims to have positioned itself as one of the leading menstrual hygiene brands, with Paree sanitary pads as the jewel in its crown.

Locking horns with Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree Secure and Procter & Gamble’s Whisper, Soothe boasts a monthly traction of over 55 Lakh customers for its sanitary napkins Paree, which caters primarily to the women in low to middle-income groups.

Pertinent to mention that Whisper by P&G dominates the Indian sanitary pads market with more than 50% market share, followed by J&J’s Stayfree Secure. As per the founder, Paree claimed a mere 3% of the total market share in 2022, which was more than the rest of its peers like Kotex, Sofy, and others. Today, its market share stands at over 7%.

Now, with its zero-to-one growth already coming to fruition, Soothe embarked on its omnichannel journey in 2023. Per the founder, its online presence has only put the company into the speed lane.

For context — In FY23, Soothe clocked a revenue of INR 172 Cr, up 25% from INR 139 Cr a year ago when it had yet to transition online. 

Soothe's key metrics

Meanwhile, Dharia said that the company ended its FY24 with an INR 180 Cr top line. Going by Dharia’s claims, although the metric translated to a mere 4.5% year-on-year (YoY) gain, the founder said that the decision to grow less during this period was intentional, as the entire focus was on improving the bottom line. 

The founder’s strategy bore fruits, and in FY24, Soothe was able to chalk out its path to profitability. The founder claims the company was EBITDA profitable in Q3 and Q4 of the last fiscal. In FY23, Soothe’s net loss stood at INR 97.2 Cr, up almost 20% YoY. 

Now, with the omnichannel model in play and the company’s foray into more urban households with premium products, Soothe has set sail for first full year EBITDA profitability in FY25. It aims to report over INR 260 Cr in revenue, with online channels anticipated to add around INR 70 Cr-INR 80 Cr to its top line this fiscal. Dharia expects the startup to emerge net profitable by FY26.

Soothe Founder’s Reverse D2C Psychology 

Being in the FMCG market for more than a decade, Dharia believes that the businesses that are trying to build online first are faced with challenges like adhering to a list of tight or unfavourable terms and conditions and thin profit margins when working with ecommerce platforms. 

However, given that his business has already built trust in the market and has a strong customer recall, Soothe’s existing business has little dependency on online marketplaces.

“Unlike online platforms, general trade is a very secular channel for us, and we have built our business there. So, now when we go to ecommerce, quick commerce or even supermarkets, we have the power to walk away from the table. Our business model is far more resilient that way,” Dharia said.

Dharia gets this confidence on the back of the performance of the startup’s star product, Paree, which has a strong foothold in the northern and eastern parts of India. The founder claims that Paree takes the third spot after Whisper and Stayfree in the menstrual hygiene category.  

Besides its women’s hygiene products, which include sanitary pads, menstrual cups, panty liners, razors, and hair removal cream, the startup also manufactures baby diapers.

Its Super Cutes range of baby diapers gets a monthly traction of 10 Lakh customers, contributing around 30% to its total revenue. 

However, Paree sanitary pads have been the company’s core business with new product categories, including diapers and other personal care products, launched in the last three years. 

India’s Women Hygiene Product Space: Soothe Vs Others

Moving on, the founder claims Soothe to be one of the few menstrual hygiene brands to have a manufacturing facility. Per Dharia, several top sanitary napkin companies selling in India buy products from China, which are often cheaper and inferior in quality.

He also questions the claims made by new-age menstrual hygiene brands about their products being 100% biodegradable.

“There are some startups with innovative claims that their sanitary pads are 100% biodegradable, but it’s absolutely false. When you are small, you can get away by lying but as a large company, we don’t have that luxury,” he said. 

Explaining this, Dharia pointed out that 100% biodegradable sanitary pads is a white lie, as 80% of these pads are made from hygiene-grade paper but the back sheet, comprising the remaining 20% of the product, is plastic to make them leakproof.

Soothe’s Major Milestones In Its Zero-To-One Stride

Even though the company was incorporated in 2013, it took Dharia quite a while to launch its first product, Paree, which came out in 2016. He spent nearly three years doing R&D and building a manufacturing capacity. 

Being an ex-banker, one thing was clear in Dharia’s mind — he wanted to build a profitable business soon, and he wished to do it by keeping customer acquisition costs at bare minimum. For this, he initially restricted his adventure only to Tier II and Tier III regions of the country, which also helped him save a fortune on the expense front. 

Not a big fan of cash burns, Dharia’s playbook also helped the company provide quality feminine hygiene products at an affordable price to women living in the rural parts of the nation.

Soothe factsheet

As the startup was preparing to launch its Paree sanitary pads in 2016, it was time for it to give a face to the brand. So, in 2015, Dharia roped in Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal as its investor and brand ambassador. Though Nehwal’s association with the startup as its brand ambassador was short-lived, she continues to be an investor in Soothe. Later, in 2021, Paree roped in Janhvi Kapoor as its brand ambassador.

According to Dharia, he recognised early on that a top-down approach wouldn’t be effective for their target market, which already had top brands catering to urban households. Therefore, Soothe rather focussed on creating value for women in rural areas. 

Since its inception, Soothe has raised around INR 400 Cr ($48 Mn) through multiple funding rounds. It counts investors like A91 Partners, Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), Northern Arc, Sixth Sense Ventures, and the US International Development Finance Corporation on its cap table.

Its last funding round took place in 2022 when it raised INR 175 Cr ($21 Mn) to expand its distribution channels and deepen its reach across Tier II and Tier III markets. Notably, Soothe boasts an offline presence at 2.5 Lakh retail stores today. 

Moving on, now that Soothe plans to spread its wings online, it aspires to target premium customers with Paree Prima. 

Apart from this, Dharia said that the startup’s manufacturing setup gives it an edge and solidifies its position in the industry.

“We can produce 1 Bn pieces of sanitary pads per annum. Having our in-house manufacturing actually gives us the advantage of being able to do innovation and differentiation. I can create products at a good gross margin for Bharat, middle class, and premium via quick commerce and Kirana stores efficiently.”

Soothe’s manufacturing plant, which is registered with the US FDA and holds BIS (ISI) Mark & ISO certifications, has allowed Soothe to add a B2B aspect to its business, supplying products to other brands. Its B2B sales contribute approximately 8-9% to its revenue.

What’s Next On The Card?

A year ago, when Soothe began its online sales, 95% of its revenues came from offline sales and only 5% from online sales. Per Dharia, online channels account for about 15% of the company’s revenues today.

In addition to selling through various marketplaces and quick commerce platforms, Soothe is developing its own platform to sell directly to customers.

With its new business strategy, Soothe aims to reach INR 1,000 Cr in revenue over the next three years while maintaining profitability. The company plans to achieve this by increasing its presence in 5 Lakh stores, boosting online sales, and expanding into international markets. In the near term, the startup plans to grow its footprint in geographies like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Africa.

As of now, Soothe aspires to maintain its dominant position in the country’s feminine hygiene market, which is expected to reach $1.79 Bn by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 14.85% from 2024.

Even as Soothe has tall claims about its stronghold offline in Tier II regions and beyond, it could face extreme competition online from new-age D2C brands like Nua, Carmesi, Pee Safe, and Niine, and the list is far from over. 

Also, these brands have a strong social media connection with GenZ and millennials, which Soothe will have to replicate if it wants to strive and rule the proverbial online roost.

The post Inside Feminine Hygiene Brand Soothe’s Reverse D2C Playbook appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
How BlackBuck’s Trucking & Freight Tech Stack Carried It To The IPO Milestone https://inc42.com/features/how-blackbucks-trucking-freight-tech-stack-carried-it-to-the-ipo-milestone/ Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:23:43 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=468173 Run by Bengaluru-based Zinka Logistics Solutions, BlackBuck, an online marketplace for truckers and freight operators, is the latest to join…]]>

Run by Bengaluru-based Zinka Logistics Solutions, BlackBuck, an online marketplace for truckers and freight operators, is the latest to join the list of new-age tech startups preparing for public market entry in 2024. Backed by Peak XV, Accel, Tiger Global and other noted investors, the logistics unicorn recently filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with capital market regulator SEBI for an INR 550 Cr+ IPO. 

The issue will be a mix of new shares worth INR 550 Cr and an OFS (offer for sale) of up to 2.16 Cr shares from promoters and existing investors. The three cofounders of BlackBuck intend to offload 44.37 Lakh shares during the public market listing.

Who Will Sell BlackBuck Shares In The Upcoming IPO

The IPO aspirant aims to utilise the proceeds to strengthen its sales and marketing initiatives and grow its NBFC subsidiary, BlackBuck Finserve. 

As many as six new-age tech startups have listed in the current calendar year – four on the mainboard and two on the SME platform – raising over INR 5,598 Cr ($670 Mn). In all cases, shares exceeded the initial pricing range, highlighting the typical rush for IPOs in the Indian stock market. It also gives us a sense of déjà vu, bringing back to mind the 2021 startup IPO market, although with a few twists and turns, including smaller IPO sizes and more reasonable valuations. 

Lately, IPOs in India have become more attractive with heavy retail participation, and several companies have been listed at a premium. Per a Fortune India report, 70% of the 30 main-board IPOs were listed at a premium, followed by 72% (out of 54 IPOs) in FY22 and 67% (out of 37 IPOs) in FY23. Interestingly, in the first nine months of FY24, 78% of the 54 main-board IPOs were listed at a premium.

Ola Electric, Swiggy, FirstCry and Unicommerce are among the most-awaited IPOs of the year, but these are still at various stages of preparation. A few others, like BlackBuck and Avanse Financial Services, are out with their DRHPs without any prior hint.

BlackBuck: Ushering In The Digital Drive To Redefine Road Freight

Before we weigh in the potential risks and rewards of the BlackBuck IPO, it will be pertinent to look at the company’s operations and how its business model stacks up against the country’s leading logistics players. 

Founded in 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Rajesh Yabaji and Chanakya Hridaya, along with Rama Subramaniam, the B2B marketplace specialises in inter-city full truckload (FTL) transportation. In simple terms, it seamlessly connects truck operators with small and big businesses with shipping requirements in real time via its tech-enabled platform and operates pan-India

Although BlackBuck started as a truck aggregator, it currently provides a comprehensive range of solutions for load management, telematics, payment (fuel and FASTag or toll charges) and vehicle financing (with a focus on trucks). 

It has an asset-light business model and generates revenue through platform fees, subscriptions and commissions (more on its business fundamentals later). The startup has raised over $360 Mn in funding and directly competes with Wheelseye, Vahak and FleetX Loconav, digital freight platforms catering to truckers in India. 

Blackbuck factsheet

BlackBuck says it is the largest digital freight platform for truckers in terms of revenue, accounting for 27% of the domestic market share. India’s road freight transport market, estimated at $140.3 Bn in 2024, is expected to reach $236.3 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.08% during the forecast period. 

As road transportation, especially trucking, continues to grow due to increased economic activities and improved infrastructure, ventures like BlackBuck will likely witness exponential growth as a core component of India’s booming logistics industry.       

The startup also claims to service the maximum number of truck operators. In FY24, it had 9.6 Lakh transacting users on the platform, accounting for 27.52% of the truckers in India, it said. 

Over the years, many Indian logistics companies, including Blue Dart Express, Allcargo Gati, VRL Logistics and Delhivery, have taken the IPO route to grow their capital base and expand their business. Although part of their operations covers the FTL market, where BlackBuck is a specialist, the latter is the first to go ahead with a unique value proposition – providing a digital edge to the highly fragmented road freight transportation space.

Speaking to Inc42, an analyst at a brokerage firm said it could be a bit early to discuss BlackBuck’s IPO prospects, given the pending SEBI nod. However, it has a more ‘mature’ business model and stands out from the rest of its listed and unlisted peers in the trucking/logistics market.

There is a catch, though, the analyst pointed out, requesting not to be named. “BlackBuck is a B2B tech company helping truckers leverage the on-demand economy and shaping the future of freight. Considering its multi-pronged approach, this narrative is a bit more complicated than Zomato or Nykaa, the [B2C] platforms people used regularly and understood their businesses better. In this case, investors may require more time to comprehend the entire business model or the long-term value proposition. But as I have said, it is too early to gauge the market sentiment,” he explained. 

Meanwhile, BlackBuck’s profitability at the operating level positions the company well for the public markets, the analyst added.

A Deep Dive Into BlackBuck’s Fundamentals Reveals The Pros & Cons

As per its DRHP, BlackBuck was a loss-making entity and reported INR 194 Cr in net losses in FY24. But compared to the previous financial year, this was a 33% drop from the INR 290.4 Cr loss posted in FY23, marking a significant improvement.  

Meanwhile, it turned profitable at an operating level in FY24 with an adjusted EBITDA of INR 13.3 Cr against a loss of INR 154.5 Cr in FY23.  

The startup said its adjusted EBITDA showed restated loss before tax from continuing operations, adjusted for finance costs, depreciation and amortisation expenses, employee share-based payment expenses and other net gains/losses. Its other net gains/losses amounted to nought in the reported year.

BlackBuck’s EBITDA loss stood at INR 138.8 Cr in FY24, but its operating revenue jumped 69% YoY to INR 296.9 Cr during that year. 

A close look at the startup’s revenue channels and its parent company’s business commitments will further clarify how the venture is faring overall.

BlackBuck generates revenue from its payment solutions for toll taxes and fuel charges, deployment of telematics (remote monitoring of vehicles) data to truck owners, vehicle financing and other service fees. 

A significant portion of its operating revenue comes from commissions (incomes from banks and oil marketing companies for the distribution and management of FASTags and fuel cards, respectively) and subscriptions for telematics-based fleet management and platform services. Its overall revenue from trucking services stood at INR 296.1 Cr in FY24, growing nearly 69% YoY.

BlackBuck's topline

Its parent entity, Zinka Logistics, runs other subsidiaries, including TZF Logistics Solutions, BlackBuck Finserve, ZZ Logistics Solutions and BlackBuck Netherlands B.V. 

Among these, BlackBuck Finserve received its non-deposit-taking NBFC licence on August 1, 2023, and commenced lending in October last year. It provides financing solutions for various assets such as plants and machinery and vehicles like buses and trucks.

In its DRHP, BlackBuck states that the vehicle financing business (backed by BFPL and its finance partners) enables truck operators to buy used commercial vehicles or get financing on existing ones. With this model in place, the startup generates revenues from interest incomes and loan processing fees.

The logistics major is too keen to pursue this revenue channel, as its draft filing reveals. 

As per its DRHP, the net proceeds invested in the NBFC subsidiary will be used to finance the augmentation of its capital base to meet its future capital requirements and not towards further acquisitions or repayments of its existing loans.

This approach is understandable since Indian think tank NITI Aayog estimates that the number of trucks on Indian roads will quadruple, from 4 Mn in 2022 to 17 Mn by 2050. With the concept of Vikshit Bharat set to culminate by 2047 and fuel India’s economic growth, the country’s core development areas, like manufacturing and supply chain logistics, are set to gain unprecedented momentum. This will throw open new growth opportunities for ventures like BlackBuck looking to finance different asset types, from infrastructural facilities and components to road freight essentials.

As of March 31, 2024, the NBFC arm disbursed 4,035 loans totalling INR 196.8 Cr. The interest income contributed around 0.23% to BlackBuck’s total consolidated revenue from operations in FY24. The finance and payments businesses contributed 45.26% to the startup’s consolidated operating revenue in FY24.

Contribution Of Payments & Vehicle Financing To BlackBuck’s Revenue

On the flip side, BlackBuck noted in its DRHP that any regulatory changes in the payment ecosystem or electronic toll collection technologies, among a few other global policy-related shifts, could have a material adverse effect on its payments and telematics business, which contributed to more than 94% to its consolidated operating revenue in FY24. 

The Road To Riches Will Be A Litmus Test   

Supported by a clutch of marquee investors such as Peak XV, Tiger Global, Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging  Asia Fund, VEF, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Accel, BlackBuck emerged as a unicorn in 2021.

After building a strong foothold in the trucking and logistics industry for nine years and undergoing bumpy rides to achieve a billion-dollar valuation, BlackBuck is finally ready to leap forward and go public when several other prominent household names are also on track for an IPO.

But more than the tussle for market attention, BlackBuck needs to get its house in order. The startup has civil, tax and criminal proceedings against the company, its promoters and its directors worth INR 277.2 Cr. Among these, one litigation worth INR 275.8 Cr involves a company director.

Still, what matters most is the ultimate litmus test. A blessing of tech unicorns is leaning towards initial public offerings now that private capital has grown scarce due to a harsh funding winter. Capital market investors, on the other hand, are genuinely excited to see high-growth startups making their debut. However, profit remains the prerequisite for success in today’s market scenario, and people can soon pull their money out without solid business outcomes.     

[Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal]

The post How BlackBuck’s Trucking & Freight Tech Stack Carried It To The IPO Milestone appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>
Motilal Oswal MF Dumps 2.8 Cr Zomato Shares; Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs, Others Buy https://inc42.com/buzz/motilal-oswal-mf-dumps-2-8-cr-zomato-shares-societe-generale-goldman-sachs-others-buy/ Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:18:37 +0000 https://inc42.com/?p=468169 Amid a sharp surge in its stock price, foodtech major Zomato saw major share offloading by Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund…]]>

Amid a sharp surge in its stock price, foodtech major Zomato saw major share offloading by Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund on Tuesday (July 16). The domestic mutual fund sold 2.8 Cr shares of the company in a block deal worth INR 645.8 Cr.

The shares sold by the mutual fund were lapped up by several institutional investors.

At 1.3 Cr, Societe Generale bought the highest number of shares for INR 289.7 Cr, while Polar Capital Global Technology Fund bought 63.5 Lakh shares worth INR 144 Cr.

Axis Mutual Fund bought 44 Lakh shares of Zomato worth INR 99.8 Cr. Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius Private Limited bought almost 14 Lakh shares of the startup worth INR 31.7 Cr.

Goldman Sachs and Matthews Asia were among the other buyers.

It is pertinent to note that Zomato shares touched several record highs over the past few trading sessions. On Monday, the stock touched a new all-time high at INR 232 on the BSE. With that, the value of Zomato CEO and founder Deepinder Goyal’s shareholding in the company touched the $1 Bn mark. 

During Tuesday’s trading session, Zomato fell over 5% to INR 217.45 on the BSE amid the block deal. 

Zomato has been witnessing a significant uptrend since the beginning of this year, helped by its improving fundamentals and profitability. The company turned profitable in Q1 FY24, and posted an increase in profit in every quarter after that. The startup reported a net profit of INR 175 Cr in the last reported quarter, Q4 FY24. 

Kotak Institutional Equities expects Zomato to report healthy Q1 FY25 results, driven by 23% year-on-year (YoY) growth in food delivery gross merchandise value (GMV) and 113% YoY growth in Blinkit GMV. 

JM Financial also said in a recent research note that it expects Zomato to post sequentially “very strong quarter” in Q1 FY25 for food delivery as well as quick commerce businesses.

The post Motilal Oswal MF Dumps 2.8 Cr Zomato Shares; Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs, Others Buy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

]]>