Zypp Electric, an Indian startup that offers an EV-as-a-service platform catering to e-commerce companies and gig workers, has received a $25 million investment led by Taiwan’s battery-swapping giant Gogoro.

The cash from Gogoro is an extension of a strategic partnership between the two companies, and a signal of Gogoro’s continued commitment to the Indian market. Zypp Electric will use the funds to expand its fleet from 10,000 to 200,000 bikes and widen its footprint to 30 Indian cities by December 2025.

The Gurugram-based startup aims to electrify last-mile deliveries in the South Asian nation. It offers electric two-wheeler fleets to ride-sharing companies, and e-commerce, food, grocery and pharma delivery companies such as BigBasket, Flipkart, Jio Mart, Rapido, Swiggy, Tata 1mg, Zepto and Zomato. Fleet customers get additional features such as dedicated backup rider support, a merchant panel, rider tracking, API integration and multiple order support, the company said.

The startup also lets gig delivery workers rent e-bikes through a daily, weekly or monthly subscription. As part of the subscription, gig workers can have access to Zypp’s app that lets them see what to deliver, where to deliver, which bike to use and how to charge, among other details to help them maximize their earnings, co-founder and CEO Akash Gupta said in an interview.

Today, the gig worker offering only makes up 20% of Zypp Electric’s revenue, with EV fleets taking the remainder, according to Gupta. However, the company wants to see that number increase, and has promised that gig workers using its platform will see a 50% increase in net savings compared to what they were generating using petrol bikes.

“I want to say that everyone in India, whoever wanting to do delivery, should not buy a bike, should only rent out the bikes from Zypp and earn via this platform because it is helping you on a click of button everything,” Gupta stated.

Founded in 2017, Zypp Electric operates as an OEM-agnostic firm, working with local EV manufacturers such as Hero and Kinetic to acquire e-bikes — mostly on lease. These manufacturers tweak their bikes per the startup’s requirements and put its green-color branding on top to deliver a unified look and feel.

Zypp Electric is also embracing battery swapping. The startup has partnered with Sun Mobility and Battery Smart to that end, and recently partnered with Gogoro to pilot Taiwanese company’s battery-swapping network in Delhi.

“I don’t think that one player can address the entire market. We’ll have to work with multiple players and scale. Also, the technology has to be better as we scale,” Gupta said.

In over five years since its foundation, Zypp Electric has completed 15 million deliveries and has worked with 10,000 gig workers, the company said. It started these deliveries in Delhi-NCR and expanded to Bengaluru and Pune in 2021.

Gupta told TechCrunch that the expansion came only when the startup became consistent and had its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) positive in Delhi-NCR.

The $25 million Series B round, which Gogoro has led, saw participation from new and existing investors such as Goodyear Ventures, 9Unicorns, We Founder Circle and LetsVenture, among other investors and angels. This round included $5 million in debt from global impact fund IIX and an undisclosed national bank.

Zypp Electric wouldn’t disclose its exact valuation post-funding, though Gupta said that it was roughly 5.5–6x from the last round.

The fresh funding brings Zypp Electric’s total raised to $37.5 million, including $7.5 million in debt or asset leasing. Gupta told TechCrunch that as part of Zypp Electric’s goal to reach 200,000 bikes by 2025, the company will deploy 50,000 this year and 100,000 next year. Through this scale, Gupta hopes Zypp Electric’s revenue will grow from a $20 million ARR to around $500 million.

The startup, which currently has a workforce of 620 people, is also looking to widen its headcount and hire more engineers and operation teams as it plans expansion, first in India and then internationally.

The list of cities where Zypp Electric plans to expand includes Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Mumbai, among others where online retail is already significant. Gogoro’s recent investment into the company includes the addition of the Taiwanese company on Zypp Electric’s board, which should help Zypp Electric grow beyond India. The startup is eyeing Southeast Asia, the UAE and Europe as its first potential global markets.

EV startup Zypp Electric nabs $25M to hit 30 Indian cities by 2025 by Jagmeet Singh originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/08/zypp-electric-funding-gogoro/