Bajaj Auto Invests INR 45 Crore in Electric Bike-Sharing Platform Yulu Bikes

Published On: 23 February 2024
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The startup company secured funding by selling its shares to existing strategic investors like Magna International Inc. and Bajaj Auto.

Bajaj Auto, one of the leading two-wheeler manufacturers in India, announced that it has made an investment of INR 45.75 crore in Yulu Bikes. The electric mobility startup company said that it has raised an overall investment of $19.25 million (approximately INR 160 crore). The electric bike-sharing platform Yulu Bikes secured funding by selling its shares to existing strategic investors like Bajaj Auto and Magna International Inc.

Bajaj Auto India currently holds a 19 percent stake in the EV startup. Yulu Bikes declared in a press release that the company has managed to record a fivefold increase in its revenue since last year. The company will utilize the new investment to expand its EV lineup, operational locations, and technology innovations.

The new investment will enable the electric bike-sharing platform to strengthen its market presence. As of now, the startup runs 30,000 e-bikes across cities like Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Gurugram. Yulu Bikes claims to have facilitated over 75 million green deliveries and helped over 50,000 delivery partners, including Zomato.

The co-founder and CEO of Yulu, Amit Gupta, said, “Yulu will continue to strengthen its leadership in the mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) segment by deepening existing business lines and opening up new use cases and geographies. Hence, we will look to raise additional funds to power our growth. We are gratified to see a lot of inbound interest from institutional investors and will raise additional capital later this year.”

Back in 2019, Bajaj Auto announced an investment of INR 66 crore in the electric mobility company, aiming to increase EV adoption in the country. Commenting on the new investment, the Executive Director at Bajaj Auto, Rakesh Sharma, said, “We see very good potential in the space of shared and last-mile mobility. Hence, together we continue to leverage our combined expertise in consumer knowledge, technology, and manufacturing to build a business in this space."

Yulu Bikes rolled out the Yulu Wynn as its first electric two-wheeler in the Indian market in 2023. The Yulu Wynn electric was launched at a price of INR 55,555 (ex-showroom). The two-wheeler can be bought on a subscription basis. Apart from providing electric last-mile connectivity, Yulu also provides battery charging and swapping services, utilizing machine learning and AI to predict and meet battery requirements across its network.