Indian e-bike rental startup Yulu raises $93 mln to help fund expansion
Indian e-bike rental startup Yulu raises $93 mln to help fund expansion By Saikeerthi .
Aug 12 (Reuters) - Indian electric rental bike startup Yulu said on Wednesday it had raised $93 million in equity and debt to expand its fleet, enter new cities and target net profit next year.
Electric mobility firms including Yulu have benefited from fast growth in India's quick commerce and e-commerce sectors, as delivery workers increasingly shift to battery-powered vehicles that cost less to run and reduce exposure to fuel price swings.
Yulu has been operationally profitable since April last year and no longer needs equity capital to fund daily operations, CEO and co-founder Amit Gupta told Reuters.
Instead, its main funding need now is to expand its vehicle fleet, Gupta said.
Founded in 2017 and backed by Bajaj Auto BAJA.NS, Yulu plans to quadruple its active fleet to 200,000 two-wheelers from 50,000 over the next two years and expand to 20 cities from 12 in the next 12 months through company-run and franchise models.
The company is also entering intra-city mobility with a high-payload electric scooter built for e-commerce logistics, bike taxis and express parcel delivery. Its current fleet is largely made up of low-speed vehicles used for quick commerce and food delivery.
Yulu expects the expanded fleet to help it become profit after tax (PAT)-positive on a monthly basis in the next calendar year.
The company is targeting annualised revenue of 12 billion to 15 billion rupees and aims to turn PAT-positive before pursuing a public listing, Gupta said.
Yulu almost doubled its revenue in the financial year ended March 31, 2025 to 2.37 billion rupees ($24.84 million) and narrowed losses by 12% to 1.26 billion rupees.
GEF Capital Partners, a climate-focused investment firm, led the $63-million equity portion of the fundraise. Existing investors Bajaj Auto and Magna International MG.TO did not participate in the fundraise.
($1 = 95.4075 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Saikeerthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
((Saikeerthi@thomsonreuters.com; (+91) 8296756080))
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