TDK backs Ultraviolette with $21M to take India-made electrical bikes world

Two months in the past, Indian electrical bike startup Ultraviolette expanded into 10 European nations. Now, fueled with $21 million in an all-equity spherical led by the company enterprise arm of Japanese electronics large TDK Company, Ultraviolette is placing its enlargement plans into overdrive.

The nine-year-old startup plans to develop its European footprint fourfold, enter different motorcycle-driven markets similar to Latin America and Southeast Asia, and enhance its portfolio to 14 fashions by early 2027. Ultraviolette’s world enlargement follows the 2024 launch of its F77 Mach 2 flagship mannequin and its second product, the F77 SuperStreet, in February.

Behind Ultraviolette are two childhood mates — CEO Narayan Subramaniam and CTO Niraj Rajmohan — who mixed their experience in mechanical engineering, automotive design, laptop science, and electronics to affect the mid-segment two-wheeler market.

The duo, which drew inspiration from Tesla, began Ultraviolette at a time when India’s electrical two-wheeler market was dominated by low-speed fashions, primarily catering to business and utility wants. The early growth was pushed by Chinese language imports providing low-cost choices, adopted by a wave of homegrown startups and, extra lately, legacy producers coming into the area.

As an alternative of changing into simply one other participant in that race, the Ultraviolette co-founders got down to construct electrical bikes that might match the efficiency of 150cc to 800cc inner combustion engine sports activities bikes.

“We requested ourselves, if we have now to make electrical thrilling in two-wheelers, what would it not take? And that’s the target with which we began,” mentioned Rajmohan (pictured above, proper) in an unique interview.

The Bengaluru-based startup took about 4 years from its inception in 2016 to unveil the primary mannequin in 2019. The startup went by a number of design iterations earlier than finalizing the seventh model — therefore the identify F77. The business model debuted with a hard and fast battery pack to ship over 186 miles of vary and a high velocity of 96 miles/hour with a 30kW peak energy and as much as 100 newton-meters of torque.

Ultraviolette has additionally unveiled the light-weight Shock Wave bike in addition to the Tesseract scooter, which options entrance and rear radars and cameras to allow an assisted-driving expertise and blindspot detection. The scooter prices ₹145,000 ($1,650), whereas its bikes (ex-showroom) have a base worth of ₹175,000 ($2,000) and goes as much as $10,000.

Ultraviolette’s automobiles come outfitted with eSIM connectivity and have predictive upkeep powered by a proprietary diagnostics system. Rajmohan mentioned the system can detect even minor points, similar to when the chain wants lubrication. The startup presents an app that gives all these insights to customers on the go.

The corporate has additionally established a producing and meeting facility in Bengaluru’s Electronics Metropolis, with a capability of 30,000 items. Immediately, the corporate handles every part in-house from growing embedded software program and battery administration techniques to motor controllers and even battery manufacturing. About 500 individuals work at Ultraviolette, together with 200 in company capabilities and R&D.

Ultraviolette’s enterprise mannequin was formed partially by Tesla homeowners. The co-founders frolicked speaking to Tesla homeowners within the U.S., who have been among the many first ones to purchase the Mannequin S in 2015, to be taught what made the that automotive totally different from different EVs of its time.

“These Tesla automobiles have been very particular, as proudly owning them was seen as progressive. It was extra of a way of life assertion,” Rajmohan instructed TechCrunch.

The co-founders introduced that sentiment to Ultraviolette’s design and branding, aiming to make it a worldwide firm from day one. As Rajmohan defined, the phrase “violet” is pronounced equally in over 30 European languages, whereas “extremely” alerts one thing cutting-edge. Reinforcing that ambition, the startup pursued European certification for all its automobiles even earlier than coming into the market.

That is in contrast to different Indian electrical two-wheeler producers, which have tried to cater to native demand. India accounts for practically 40% of worldwide bike gross sales — though most of these are powered by inner combustion engines.

Increasing past India makes strategic sense for Ultraviolette, given the home EV market stays comparatively underpenetrated — with adoption at simply 7.66%, in comparison with the worldwide common of 16.48%, in keeping with a latest report by government-backed suppose tank NITI Aayog. Whereas India goals to achieve 30% EV penetration by 2030, progress thus far means that it could be an bold goal.

India can also be a price-sensitive market, the place two-wheelers are usually not discretionary purchases, however important and inexpensive modes of day by day transportation. In consequence, promoting high-end variants at scale within the nation may very well be a problem for Ultraviolette — not less than initially.

“We have been very clear that what we’re doing is, we’re working towards segments that are extra common in nature,” Rajmohan mentioned.

What’s subsequent?

Ultraviolette plans to increase the capability of its Bengaluru manufacturing facility to as much as 60,000 items and add a bigger location to scale to about 300,000 items by early subsequent 12 months. Ultraviolette operates 20 shops throughout 20 Indian cities and plans to develop to round 100 by March subsequent 12 months. About 50 of these shops — one per metropolis — are anticipated to open by the festive season later this 12 months.

Rajmohan instructed TechCrunch the startup is engaged on increasing its European presence, the place it has 40 sellers.

“Subsequent 12 months is the place the scale-up occurs in Europe,” he mentioned.

The startup additionally plans to start out its pilot in Latin America and Southeast Asia subsequent 12 months and go to markets together with the U.S. and Japan later.

Ultraviolette has offered greater than 3,000 bikes in India and has projected to promote as much as 10,000 later this 12 months. It has additionally focused over $50 million in income by the tip of this monetary 12 months.

The brand new funding noticed participation from Ultraviolette’s present traders Zoho Company and Lingotto (beforehand Exor Capital). Thus far, it has raised round $75 million in funding and counts Qualcomm Ventures, Exor, and TVS Motor amongst its different key traders.