Bajaj Auto pumps in ₹45 crore in electric bike-sharing platform Yulu Bikes

Indian two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto has announced that it will invest an additional ₹45.75 crore on electric bike sharing platform Yulu. The last-mile electric mobility start-up which operates in several cities across India, said that it has secured an overall investment of nearly ₹160 crore. The investment in equity funding came by offering shares to Bajaj and Magna, both being the primary investors in the e-bike sharing platform.

Bajaj Auto now holds nearly 19 per cent stake in Yulu Bikes. According to the last-mile electric mobility startup, the company has recorded five times jump in revenue in past one year. Yulu Bikes has said that it will use the latest investments to focus on growth besides expanding its EV lineup and product and technology innovation.

Yulu currently runs 30,000 electric bikes across cities like Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru. The company feels the new set of investments will boost its growth further. Amit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO at Yulu Bikes, said, “Yulu has seen demand speeding up in the last couple of quarters. In particular, our shared EV services have transformed the urban delivery landscape by increasing the share of green deliveries while enabling livelihoods."

Till date, Yulu claims to have enabled more than 75 million green deliveries and to have benefited over 50,000 delivery partners, including the likes of Zomato. Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director at Bajaj Auto, 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." Matteo Del Sorbo, Executive Vice President at Magna International, said Yulu's journey showcases the vital role played by green mobility solutions. Besides offering electric last-mile connectivity, Yulu also offers battery charging and swapping facility using Machine Learning alongside AI to predict and fulfill battery requirements across its network.

Last year, Yulu Bikes launched its first electric two-wheeler in India. Called Yulu Wynn, the electric two-wheeler was launched at a price of ₹55,555. It is also offered on subscription basis.