Electric mobility startup Yulu secures Series C funding to expand from 50,000 to 200,000 bikes and launch faster scooters for e-commerce deliveries across India.
By Adam Makins · 
India’s quick-commerce frenzy has created an unlikely winner: Yulu, a Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler startup that’s now raised $93 million to capitalize on surging demand from delivery workers. The Series C round, led by GEF Capital Partners, values the company at approximately $170 million and signals confidence in a business model that’s proven far more resilient than its original bike-sharing concept.
When Yulu launched in 2017 as an urban commuter bike-sharing service, few could have predicted its real goldmine would arrive during a global pandemic. As food and grocery delivery exploded across Indian cities, the startup pivoted to renting electric two-wheelers to gig workers on weekly subscription plans. Today, that subscription model generates about 95% of Yulu’s revenue, while its original station-based rental service in Bengaluru barely registers.
The numbers tell a compelling story. With 50,000 vehicles currently in operation, Yulu logs approximately 1.6 million zero-emission miles weekly and powers over 750,000 deliveries daily. These aren’t vanity metrics either. The startup achieved positive EBITDA last year and expects to turn profitable before interest and taxes in 2025. Between fiscal 2023 and 2026, revenue grew sevenfold, though co-founder Amit Gupta kept the specifics close to his chest.
What makes Yulu’s model particularly smart is how it removes friction from the gig economy. Delivery drivers don’t need to spend their limited capital on vehicles; they rent bikes weekly and jump straight into earning. For platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, Yulu becomes what Gupta describes as “the AWS of mobility,” supplying the infrastructure that lets workers operate independently without third-party logistics providers skimming margins.
The new funding will push Yulu’s fleet to 200,000 bikes within two years. But here’s where it gets interesting: the startup isn’t just scaling existing vehicles.
Yulu is introducing Yulu Express, a full-sized, higher-speed electric scooter designed for longer-haul deliveries, bike taxis, and express parcel services. About a third of the future fleet will comprise this new model, which is already being trialed across four cities with roughly 500 units running in Bengaluru.
This expansion shows how startups must evolve beyond their initial product to capture adjacent market opportunities. The slower bikes work brilliantly for hyperlocal deliveries in congested urban areas, but they can’t handle the longer routes that growing e-commerce volumes demand. Express scooters fill that gap while keeping Yulu relevant across multiple logistics use cases.
Geographically, Yulu is also making calculated moves. Operating in 12 Indian cities today, the startup aims to reach roughly 20 cities within the next year, targeting Chennai and Pune as key expansion markets. This balanced approach between owned operations in major metros and franchise partnerships in secondary cities reduces capital burn while building national reach.
What’s particularly noteworthy is how Yulu financed this round: $63 million in equity and $30 million in debt. The company signaled it expects this to be its final equity raise before a potential public listing, with future growth funded primarily through debt and lease financing. That’s a marked shift from the typical venture-backed playbook and suggests confidence in unit economics and cash generation.
Interestingly, existing investors Bajaj Auto and Magna International didn’t participate, waiving their pre-emptive rights. Bajaj continues manufacturing Yulu’s low-speed fleet, while the new Express scooters come from a different Indian manufacturer Gupta declined to name. This manufacturing diversity actually reduces dependency risks.
The tech here may seem unsexy compared to AI chatbots or autonomous vehicles, but Yulu is solving a genuine problem: how to efficiently electrify last-mile logistics at scale. As India’s delivery economy races forward, the infrastructure layer that powers it becomes just as critical as the platforms themselves.
Source: TechCrunch
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