EMotorad, an Indian electric bike startup, has raised $20 million in a Series B round as it aims to break China’s market dominance and expand its presence in global markets.
The three-year-old startup has raised more than $22.5 million in total funding, with Singapore’s Panthera Growth Partners leading the latest round, along with participation from Alteria Capital, xto10x Technologies and existing investor Green Frontier Capital of the startup. In addition, the new funding round includes a debt of $2.5 million.
Demand for e-bikes is growing in markets beyond China and India as people seek to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, reduce road congestion and find alternative transportation options that don’t require rigorous physical activity. during their daily commute. In 2021, the World Bank was foreseen (PDF) that up to 300 million e-bikes will be in cities around the world by 2023. However, despite growing global demand, e-bike supplies are heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturers. EMotorad is trying to reverse this trend by locating its manufacturing operations in India.
“Almost 99% of the world gets their e-bikes from China and that’s what we want to change. It’s a $40 billion industry worldwide. And we’re trying to make a dent in that,” Kunal Gupta, co-founder and CEO of EMotorad, said in an interview.
Gupta co-founded the startup with Rajib Gangopadhyay, Aditya Oza and Sumedh Battewar in 2020 after spending considerable time in the mobility industry and spending the early years in the two-wheeler rental space. The Pune-based startup started its journey in the Indian market and expanded its presence to global markets in 2021. The startup exports its e-bikes to more than 18 countries through white label and own-brand model sales. EMotorad has a presence in five countries, including the US, Europe, Australia, Japan and some Middle Eastern markets.
EMotorad currently has a portfolio of 14 e-bike models, with 7 to 8 available in India and the rest for global markets. The series is priced between $600 and $1,200 in the US and between 600 and 1,500 euros in Europe.
Gupta told TechCrunch that quality, technology and after-sales service are some of the USPs of EMotorad bikes.
“You can’t always compete on your pricing. But we have a significant increase in the quality of the product,” said the co-founder. “Batteries and motors couldn’t be made smart with a level of software technology because, of course, they were in external capacity.”
The startup has a 50-member technology center in Bengaluru that helps develop the proprietary technology, he added.
EMotorad promises to resolve any issues within 48 hours of receiving user complaints. The bikes have a display that displays an error code to indicate any problems with the motor or battery components. This helps users quickly identify and report issues to the manufacturer for immediate resolution.
The startup assembles batteries, motors and other components at its facility in Pune, which can produce up to 90,000 bikes a year. The company is building a new 150,000-square-foot facility — estimated to be ready in the next three months — with an “in-house smart drive train” to develop all key components, from batteries and motors to displays and chargers natively. It will have a production capacity of 400,000 units per year, Gupta said.
Apart from its own facilities, the startup works with several partners across India to meet local demand. Although the country, the world’s largest two-wheeler market, does not have a significant e-bike base for commuters at present, EMotorad believes it is on the rise.
“India’s e-bike mobility has scaled up tremendously. There is a very positive upside there,” Gupta said.
EMotorad has its presence in 200 stores across the country and aims to expand it to 800 stores within the next 18 months.
Last year, the startup sold 40,000 units globally, of which 10,000 were sold in India alone. Overall, its sales to date are 80,000 units, generating nearly $36 million in revenue.
“This year, we have seen a significant increase of almost 400% from last year in our domestic business,” said Gupta.
The startup said it generated nearly $2 million in revenue from India last year and plans to grow to around $7.8 million this year.
Globally, EMotorad looks to compete with Rad Power, Lectric and Cowboy by strengthening its presence in the US, Europe and Australia. It aims to expand its global sales to 100,000 by the 2025 financial year.
“We strongly believe that the market is big enough to accommodate many players… Fortunately, to our benefit, what is happening is that all the Chinese brands that existed until last year are going out of business because of all the legal implications that are coming to these companies from international businesses mainly from Europe and the US,” noted Gupta.
The startup, which has a total of 160 employees worldwide, has a distribution business in the US, which sells its products through distributors. Likewise, Australia, Japan and the UAE are the franchisee markets for EMotorad. However, it has its own presence in Europe, including storage and a small assembly facility located in Spain. It is looking to expand its consumer business in Europe by leveraging the new fundraising.
