New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- Electric motorcycles maker Ultraviolette said on Tuesday it has raised $21 million (Rs 184 crore) in a funding round from Japanese venture capital firm TDK Ventures, existing backers Zoho Corporation, Lingotto and other institutional investors.
The funding comes at a time when the Bengaluru-based startup seeks to expand its retail footprint across India and scale its presence to over 100 cities from the present 20 cities nationwide. It is also ramping up manufacturing, accelerating research, expanding its distribution network, and bringing its product portfolio to global markets.
TDK Ventures, the VC arm of electronics maker TDK corporation, joins Ultraviolette's cap table that also includes Qualcomm Ventures, Zoho, Speciale Invest, Lingotto (formerly Exor Capital), and TVS Motor Company.
"Our partnership with TDK Ventures fast forwards our efforts, from advanced battery platforms to intelligent vehicle systems," said Narayan Subramaniam, CEO and co-founder of Ultraviolette.
Ultraviolette was founded in 2016 by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan. The startup makes electric two wheelers and mobility infrastructure for electric vehicles. Its products include F77 Mach 2, F77 SuperStreet, Tesseract, Shockwave, and a UV racing platform. The company competes with the likes of Oben Electric, Ola Electric, and Ather Energy, among others, in the two-wheeler electric vehicles space.
For the financial year ended March 2024, the company recorded revenue of Rs 15 crore and a net loss of Rs 61 crore, according to VCCEdge data. The company started reporting revenue in FY23, recording Rs 8.4 crore with a loss of Rs 7.5 crore.
TDK Ventures launched its Bengaluru Innovation Hub in late 2023. Last year, it roped in former Ola executive Ravi Jain as its investment director. Set up as a unit of TDK Corp in 2019, the investment firm focuses on areas such as robotics and industrial, next-generation transportation, mixed reality and the IoT markets.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.