Electric bike startup Ultraviolette gets fresh funding from TVS Motor

Electric bike maker Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt. Ltd said on Monday it has received an additional investment of Rs 6 crore (about $860,000) from TVS Motor Company Ltd as part of its Series A round.

The company will deploy the additional investment for continued product engineering and expansion of research and development team and facility, it said in a statement.

“With this investment, we are looking to ramp up the development of high-end electric powertrains, battery modules and connected technology,” said Niraj Rajmohan, founder and CTO, Ultraviolette.

TVS Motor’s stake in the company has risen to 25.76% after this investment, according to a stock-exchange filing. TVS had earlier invested Rs 5 crore in Ultraviolette in December 2017 for a 14.78% stake.

Bengaluru-based Ultraviolette is building an electric motorcycle that it claims will outperform traditional bikes in the 200-250cc segment.

“Ultraviolette has made significant progress in their product engineering in a short span of time,” said K. Gopaladesikan, chief financial officer at TVS Motor.

Incorporated in December 2015, Ultraviolette was founded by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan.

TVS Motor’s bigger rival Hero MotoCorp Ltd holds a stake in electric two-wheeler startup Ather Energy.

Last month, Hero MotoCorp decided to invest Rs 130 crore ($19 million) more in Ather Energy. The two-wheeler maker had first invested Rs 205 crore in Ather Energy in 2016.

A number of other startups have also forayed into the segment and raised funding from angel investors.

Electric bike maker Ampere Vehicles Pvt. Ltd had raised funding from Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus at Tata Sons.

Tork Motorcycles, which is building an electric motorcycle, had raised angel funding from Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, co-founders of cab aggregator Ola.

Bengaluru-based Emflux Motors Pvt. Ltd had secured angel funding to make what it touts as India’s first electric sports bike.