Start-up electric scooter maker kWh Bikes on Wednesday said it has raised USD 2 million (around Rs 15 crore) in a seed round led by private market online investment platform, Let’s Venture along with individuals, including Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
The round also saw participation of Better Capital and Cloud Capital besides individuals such as Info Edge India Ltd Managing Director and CEO Hitesh Oberoi, Unacademy Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal and Kotak Mahindra Bank Joint Managing Director Dipak Gupta, among others, kWh Bikes said in a statement. “With this (funding), the startup is planning to take their prototype to production and expand R&D across various EV (electric vehicle) components like battery, BMS (battery management system), VCU (vehicle control unit) and motor,” it said.
kWh Bikes Co-founder and CEO Siddharth Janghu said, “With these funds, we are gearing up to extensively test our prototype, continue our work on components like the battery, motor and VCU, get them homologated, and enter into batch production.” He further said, “The fact that we are a vertically integrated and not an assembled product, helps us get superior performance and in the long-term, and that is what will matter. The best product will win and we are confident about that being ours.”
On its investment in the EVstart-up, LetsVenture President, Early Stage Sunitha Ramaswmay said, “The automotive industry has been rapidly evolving in terms of technology. Electric vehicles have been introduced as a clean energy initiative and have come a long way to become an integral part of OEMs. Investors on LetsVenture see immense potential in India’s EV market.”
kWh Bikes Co-founder and CTO Kartik Gupta said the company is building electric scooters that have software capable of creating efficient and optimised power trains besides developing software-driven robust battery packs to make its vehicles deliver high performance in extreme conditions. The company said it currently caters to the Indian B2B EV market and soon plans to be available for retail users as well.
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