Electric vehicle start-up, the Bangalore-based Oben EV, has raised $ 1.5 million in a seed round that will help the company develop new electric two-wheelers in-house with indigenously developed components, the company said in a release.
The seed fund will be utilised to launch their product in the market, accelerate new product development, and expand experience centres, as it looks to bolster its expansion plans.
The seed round was led by We Founder Circle along with other investors, including Rakesh Somani, Co-founder, Life Element; Gaurav Juneja, Serial Investor, Eminent Cars; Siddharth Shah, Managing Director, Rajesh Motors; Sumeet Pathak; Dr Milan Modi and veteran technologist Dr Aloknath.
Oben EV is founded IIT Kharagpur and IIM Bangalore alumni, Husband-Wife duo of Dinkar and Madhumita Agarwal. The start-up claims its electric bike has the range to run 200 km on a single charge, and clock top speed of 100 kmph. It has also claimed 16+ patented innovations ranging across product performance, customer experience, and data analytics.
The year-old company is aiming to launch its first product, a performance electric bike, in March 2022. Over the next two years, the start-up plans to bring four new home-grown products in various segments.
Madhumita Agarwal, Co-founder, Oben EV said the seed round will help Oben bring to the market its first product over the next six months.
Gaurav VK Singhvi, Co-Founder, We Founder Circle said he believes in supporting clean-energy start-ups with innovation like Oben EV that will create a positive impact on many aspects – like mass mobility, clean environment, and overall conservation of ecosystem. “Oben EV will be one of those start-ups that will set the right standards for the EV industry to grow in India,” he said.
“We believe that Oben EV’s innovative design and engineering will not just bring customers on board and convince them to adopt new technology but will further stimulate and strengthen the EV start-up ecosystem in India”, said Neeraj Tyagi, Co-founder & CEO, We Founder Circle.