EV Mobility Platform Yulu Gets $9 Mn Loan From Development Finance Corp
Summary
The funds will be deployed to accelerate last-mile mobility for movement of people and delivery of goods Yulu said that the investment was part of DFCs focus on financing clean and zero emissions transportation solutions in the country The financing round comes close on the heels of the EV startup raising $82 Mn Series B funding roundShared electric mobility startup Yulu has secured a loan of $9 Mn (INR 73 Cr) from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).The funds will be deployed to accelerate last-mile mobility for movement of people and delivery of goods. On the other hand, its BaaS service has completed more than 3.5 Mn battery swaps till date.Speaking to Inc42 earlier, Amit Gupta said that the startup increased its revenue 3X compared to pre-pandemic era. Additionally, the startup claimed to have more than 10,000 ebikes operational and is targeting an annual run rate (ARR) of $6 Mn.He also said that Yulu plans to expand its footprint to top 20-25 cities across the country in the next 3-4 years, with around a million vehicles in its kitty. In addition, Yulu is also looking to add more than 500 battery charging and swapping stations to its existing EV fleet in the next 10 months.Yulu largely competes with players such as Exponent Energy, TATA Power and Ather Grid, among others in the highly lucrative EV battery and charging ecosystem.Earlier this month, another shared electric mobility startup GreenCell Express signed a $55 Mn financing deal with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF).Meanwhile, US-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Qualcomm is also purportedly scouting Indian EV startups for potential investments.In November, EV startup MoEVing bagged $2.5 Mn in Series A funding from JSW Ventures, while another two-wheeler mobility startup BattRE raised an undisclosed seed funding from a group of investors led by Agility Ventures in the same month.Buoyed by rising awareness about benefits of EVs for the environment and the various incentives provided by the Centre and state governments to promote adoption of EVs, the sales of EVs is on a rise in the country.EV two-wheeler registrations continued their upward trend for the fifth consecutive month as registrations soared 42% month-on-month (MoM) to 75,294 units in October. Ola Electric occupied the pole position, accounting for 16,129 ebike registrations during the month.Indian EV startups have attracted over $1.8 Bn in funding since 2014.