Social Alpha and LetsVenture lead a seed investment round of INR 1.75 Crores in Accelero Vehicles. The company is involved in designing, developing, and manufacturing affordable electric bicycles ‘eBik’ and retrofittable engines ‘eBik Smart’ that convert ordinary bicycles into electric vehicles. The proceeds of the current investment will support the company’s growth through product development, pilot opportunities, enhancing production capacity, expanding to new geographies, and strengthening the sales and marketing team.
More than 138Mn people in India use a non-motorised form of transport, such as cycling and walking, to commute. The underserved population cannot afford Internal Combustion(IC) two wheelers because of the high costs (~₹50,000) and steep fuel prices (~ ₹2.0/KM). Accelero’s ‘eBik Smart’ can provide clean motorised mobility to this population while reducing drudgery and enhancing the livelihood opportunities of the users.
Accelero’s innovation bridges the gap between clean mobility and affordable transportation, which aligns with Social Alpha’s focus on climate and sustainability via affordable solutions that promote livelihood activities.
Anant Jain, the founder of Accelero, said, “We aim to make electric mobility accessible to every household, especially to the underprivileged. With robust build quality, patented technology, financing options and life time customer support, we believe we are uniquely placed to scale rapidly in the coming years.”
Speaking of the investment, Smita Rakesh, Vice President and Partner, Social Alpha, said “Access to affordable motorised mobility is a major gap for the low-income communities in the rural, peri-urban areas and the smaller towns and cities. Accelero is trying to plug this gap with a retrofittable device that can transform the way bicycles are used in these areas. Social Alpha is backing the mission-driven founders of Accelero in the pursuit of the dual Sustainable Development Goals, of ensuring inclusive and equitable energy access (SDG 7) while promoting sustainability and combating climate change (SDG 13).
Accelero will also use the rapid prototyping lab and other facilities at Social Alpha’s Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC) in Delhi. CEIIC is a joint initiative of the Government of India and Tata Trusts, in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC, Tata Power and TP-DDL. Social Alpha is also supporting Accelero in market access in new geographies and achieving scale rapidly.”
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Sunitha Ramaswamy, President, Early Stage, LetsVenture, said, “Consumers’ preferences have started shifting towards EV over the last 2 to 3 years. With the growing demand for EV products going forward, consumers are now looking for more affordable and easy solutions that help them to keep their costs under check. We at LetsVenture are looking forward to work with the Accelero Vehicles team who are now scaling up their product development with a mission to bridge the gap between clean mobility and affordable transportation.”
