Electric mobility startup Yulu today raised $82m (£653m) in a Series B round led by mobility technology company Magna International. Existing investor Bajaj Auto also participated in the round.
Yulu offers Electric Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and Battery as a Service (BaaS). The funds will be used to expand the fleet over the next 12 months, making the battery swap network ten times the capacity at a time.
Yulu has also expanded its EV fleet to more than 100,000 of electric two-wheelers, and within the same period it plans to install more than 500 battery charging and swapping stations. Yulu will partner with Magna to create a new entity, Yulu Energy, to create a nationwide battery charging and battery replacement infrastructure. The company hopes to build capacity for 1 million battery changes per day by 2030.
Yulu said its partnership with motorcycle manufacturer Bajaj Auto supports product design, technology platforms, engineering processes and manufacturing. They plan to release their next-generation electric two-wheelers from their Bajaj factory in Pune by the end of this year.
The EV company has also partnered with the Bangalore Metro (BMRCL), Delhi Metro (DMRC) and the Municipalities of Bangalore (BBMP/DULT), Mumbai (BMC/MMRDA) and New Delhi (NDMC) for parking and connected charging infrastructure. Founded in 2017, Yulu is one of the largest shared EV mobility and battery swap companies in India.
