On Monday, Yulu Bikes announced that it had secured $82 million (about Rs 653 crore) in funding from investors led by Canada’s Magna to fuel the company’s expansion.

The investment round saw automotive components giant Magna throw in $77 million, with participation from existing investors including Bajaj Auto.

Yulu co-founder Amit Gupta told ET that the money would be used to expand the company’s operations in Bengaluru and establish a Battery Swapping network across India in collaboration with Magna.

Yulu is a mobile app that allows users to rent motorcycles for short trips. In major cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, the blue, one-seater motorcycles are ubiquitous.

Currently, the company has a rental fleet of over 10,000 motorcycles, but they want to increase that to over 100,000. Gupta has stated that in order to attain that scale, the company will be raising debt in order to fund its ongoing operations. Yulu has partnered with Bajaj Auto to produce these cars.

With regards to the switching of batteries, Magna and Yulu are forming a new firm under the working title of Yulu Energy. Yulu and Magna intend to use this company to capitalise on the shared mobility company’s already battery swapping and charging network and make it available to the general public.

Over the following year, the business plans to install 500 charging stations across the country. To join this network, businesses will need to conform to Yulu’s specifications for batteries and chargers.

Gupta, who is also CEO, has stated that the firm intends to adopt an extra charging standard in the future to facilitate greater compatibility with other brands of electric vehicles.

Yulu asserts that it will become profitable once it completes its planned expansion of its fleet and battery swapping stations.

In a news release, Gupta predicted that Yulu’s BaaS and MaaS businesses will each experience “100-fold” growth over the next three to four years. Both BaaS and MaaS refer to services rather than physical products.

In addition to expanding into uncharted territories, he promised to “get deeper and denser” in existing markets and provide an exceptional experience for existing customers.

Magna’s senior vice president Matteo Del Sorbo told ET via videoconference from Canada that the company will be making a major investment in the electric mobility segment in India.

Magna is putting a lot of money into the mobility sector and the battery-as-a-service business we’re starting. This is our first foray into the Indian market, and by partnering with Yulu, we believe we will have a leg up on the competition.

Yulu has collaborated with Bajaj Auto on a number of fronts, including product development, engineering, and manufacturing. By the end of 2022, Bajaj expects to be shipping out its next generation of electric two-wheelers from its Pune factory.

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