Yulu bags Rs 653 crore from Magna; to expand footprint

Shared mobility startup Yulu has raised Rs 653 crore in its latest funding round led by US mobility technology company Magna International Inc.

Yulu – which runs around 10,000 electric two-wheelers in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai – plans to use the money to scale up its fleet, widen its battery-swapping network and expand into more cities.

"We think that the current model of Yulu running and owning an entire operation is good for all Tier 1 cities and there must be a different business model for less-populated cities and we are yet to figure out and take a decision in this regard, but we feel Chennai, Kolkata and Pune are large opportunities," Amit Gupta, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Yulu, told DH.

Yulu plans to expand its fleet to more than 1 lakh electric two-wheelers and have 500+ battery-swapping stations.

The deal will let Magna own a stake and hold a seat on the board of the Bengaluru-based startup. The two companies have established a new battery-swapping entity.

The news comes at a time when shared mobility using electric vehicles is gaining traction across the globe, thanks to government incentives promoting the green initiative. Earlier this year, India unveiled plans to introduce a new policy for battery swapping to boost sales of electric vehicles.

"We think there are interesting and large opportunities for us to open this network to other vehicles and customer sectors too. Hence, we are creating more Yulu Max stations,” said Gupta, who wants to increase the number of such stations to 500 from about 70 currently.

“This business expansion will lead to Yulu becoming free cash-flow and will lay the foundation for exponential growth,” the company said on Monday.

Yulu is set to introduce its second-generation vehicles named "Yulu Miracle" (for last-mile commute) and "Yulu Dex" (for delivery executives).