EV 2-wheeler maker River raises $11 mn in Series A
Summary
Electric two-wheeler startup, River has raised $11 million (around Rs 88 crore) in a Series A round led by Chris Saccas Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from Toyota Ventures, the company said on Tuesday.The electric 2-wheeler maker, operated by World of River Pvt. Ltd is looking to open a manufacturing facility by the end of this year, with a capacity of 100,000 units as it aims to enter the market by next year, Aravind Mani, co-founder of River said in an interaction with VCCircle.In addition to the manufacturing unit, the company plans to accelerate investment in research & development. Currently, River employs over 110 people primarily in engineering roles.The Series A round brings Rivers total funding figure to $13 million so far, after the startup fetched $2 million from Israel-backed Maniv Mobility and San Fransisco-based Trucks VC in March 2021.Mani has previously worked with companies like Ultraviolette Automotive, Manali Petrochemical, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts and Infosys. Vipin George, the other founder, has worked with Ultraviolette Automotive as design lead and with Honda R&D for over 8 years, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.Lowercarbon Capital is co-founded by veteran investor Chris Sacca, known for his early investments in Uber, Instagram, Twitter and Stripe.Venture capital and private equity companies have invested $666 million across 24 deals in the Indian electric mobility industry this year so far, a joint report titled Electrifying Indian Mobility by IVCA-EY-Induslaw recently said.Accroding to the report, Indian electric vehicle (EV) industry saw an 8x year-on-year growth in VC/PE investments, to $1.7 billion in 2021, from $181 million in 2020. The company plans to kickstart operations at the unit by next month and said it will hire more than 500 engineers and PhD holders.Last month, Mint reported that private equity majors TPG Capital and KKR & Co. are in talks with TVS Motor Co. Ltd to invest at least $300 million to fund its electric vehicle (EV) business expansion plan.Meanwhile, VCCircle had also reported last month that Bengaluru-based electric 2-wheeler maker Ather Energy has initiated discussions with investment banks, exploring the possibilities of going public in the near future.