Premium Electric Motorcycle Startup Raptee Raises $3 Mn in Pre-Series A Funding Led By Bluehill Capital

Premium EV Motorcycle Startup, Raptee has raised $3 Million in a Pre Series A round of funding led by deep-tech VC fund Bluehill Capital.

The all-equity funding round saw participation from industry stalwarts including Mr. Eugene Mayne, Founder and CEO of Tristar Global (UAE), Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, Former CEO Cognizant, Ramesh Kannan, Managing Director, Kaynes Technology, Mr. Chandu Nair, Director, Shankara Building Products and other HNIs from India and the UAE.

The funds will be allocated towards augmenting the manufacturing facility, acquiring machinery, tooling for the soon to be launched motorcycle, and to scale up the team.

Raptee is a full stack electric motorcycle manufacturer with a strong technological moat that has been developed indigenously. The Company has filed for 45+ patents so far. Raptee is the first Indian two-wheeler EV OEM to boldly introduce high-voltage drive train technology, along with an on-board charger, thereby making it compatible with the existing CCS2 public charging network, which is growing fast in India and across the Globe. Currently, India has over 9000 chargers installed which is comparable to the number of fuel pumps.

The high-voltage technology that is a critical part of Raptee motorcycles will also ensure much safer battery pack, with increased battery life and most importantly will address range anxiety.

Earlier in March, Raptee became the only OEM to receive a grant from ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India), the certifying authority for automobiles in India, towards the design and development of the high voltage powertrain. The first motorcycle is expected to debut in early 2024, with two experience centres in Chennai and Bangalore, subsequently expanding to 8 more cities by the end of the first year.

Raptee has initiated R&D for the next line of products and is planning to expand the team size to 150 in line with the business plan. Raptee’s progress has also been noticed by the Tamil Nadu Government, which has subsequently allocated a 36 acres property for the company along with other incentives for scaling up manufacturing.

Dinesh Arjun, Co-founder CEO, Raptee, said, “India is the largest motorcycle market in the world, with EV adoption on the rise. At Raptee, we want to launch a motorcycle in a mid-premium segment for consumers who believe that EVs are a true upgrade from ICE vehicles. We are extremely fortunate to be backed by investors from the manufacturing and transportation industries who understand long-term value creation and can add strategic value for us as we gear up for production and scale up. This being our first institutional round, we’re also proud to be backed by a DeepTech VC, Bluehill Capital. We’ve been refining and testing our vehicles, and the results are very promising. We are looking forward to launching it very soon.”

Manu Iyer, CEO & Partner, Bluehill Capital, said, “We strongly share the vision of the Raptee team to build world-class core EV technology right here in Chennai, India in a focused and cost-effective manner. Dinesh and his co-founders have diligently built the vehicle platform indigenously with intellectual property on various aspects of the vehicle sub-system. Having evaluated over 30 EV OEMs in India and having invested deeply in the EV and clean-tech ecosystem in India, we are impressed by Raptee’s cutting edge tech and excited to partner with them on their journey. We believe Raptee’s motorcycles will change the face of EV 2-Wheelers in India."

Over the last 12 months, Raptee’s team size has grown steadily to over 50. The rapid progress and vision displayed by the company has resulted in the on-boarding of the some of the most reputed suppliers for motorcycle components and senior leadership talent from the industry, which could ensure quality delivery and shorter turnaround times when the production scales up.

Recently, the former Head of Business of Royal Enfield, Mr. Jayapradeep V, joined Raptee as Chief Business Officer. Raptee has set up its first factory in Chennai, spread across 3 acres, which will house a majority of Raptee’s Research and Development team. It will have an annual capacity of 100,000 units and will serve as the primary production plant for Raptee for the next 24 months. The R&D centre will house state-of-the art development and testing facilities on-site and will aid in future products, while the manufacturing plant will house a dedicated battery pack assembly line. The proposed investment for this factory would be Rs 80 crore. In true Chennai startup fashion, it is noteworthy that Raptee has been frugal yet uncompromising in it’s approach and has reached this level (Tooled up Samples) at a fraction of the cost of many of its peers in the EV industry.

Raptee EV motorcycle is expected to be launched early next year. The company plans to expand to 100 cities in India and explore few conducive International markets over the next 3 years.

About Raptee

The concept of Raptee was born in 2019 with the sole intention to democratize electric mobility in India. Raptee is a full stack electric motorcycle manufacturer with a very strong technological moat. The company was founded by four engineers from Chennai (Ex Tesla, Wipro, Royal Enfield), working on to bring a premium electric motorcycle to the consumers of ICE two wheelers. We at Raptee are driven by an innovative spirit to redefine electric mobility. Our motorcycles are intuitive and engineered to outperform the conventionally powered vehicles, proving that switching to an electric motorcycle is an upgrade. They are intelligent, powerful, energy-efficient and loaded with cutting-edge technology to augment every single ride you take.

Cleantech Hybrid-Mobility Startup Pi Beam Labs Raises Funding from Eagle10, Bluehill Capital

Chennai-based Pi Beam Labs, a cleantech automotive startup that makes electric utility vehicles for the micro-mobility market, has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-Series A funding from Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, and other high net-worth individuals.

The startup will deploy the funds into expanding its core team, launch new product development initiatives, and ramp up its sales efforts.

Incubated at IIT-Madras' Incubation Cell, Pi Beam Labs designs, develops and sell future mobility hybrid vehicles (Solar +Electric+Pedal Assist).

Visakh Sasikumar, founder and CEO, Pi beam said the startup will be soon moving to a new 7,000 square feet facility in OMR from its current 2,000+ square feet assembly unit in Guindy, in line with the above goals.

Founded in 2013 by Visakh Sasikumar, Pi Beam offers pedal-assisted, solar and electric trikes (bike with three wheels) for logistics and passenger movements. The startup had launched in commercial operation in last year and since then has sold close to 160 trikes, which comes in three variants -- Mannual Paddling , Electric and Solar.



In addition, the startup is also working on products like e-rickshaws, electric carts, and others. Currently, Pi Beam works with public sector undertakings on last-mile delivery of gas cylinders and with municipal corporations as a use case for garbage collections.

The startup has even sold vehicles to Tata Trusts that using it for garbage collection and also to French multinational tyre maker Michelin for use in its plant near Chennai, where the vehicles are being used to move materials inside the factory.



Speaking on the funding, Vikas Sasikumar, co-founder and CEO, said to Times of India, "We are looking to capitalize on new government initiatives including FAME,” he added. The company is also in talks with third party logistics companies to develop solutions to cater to the growing demand for last mile connectivity in e-commerce, and also hopes to engage with ride hailing companies on their sustainability initiatives.

The solar panels for solar trikes are sourced from Cygni Energy, an another startup incubated in IIT Madras.

Speaking on the investment, Pramod D’Souza, co-founder, Eagle10 Ventures, said, "Pi Beam offers unique and utility focused electric vehicle products for last mile delivery and commute. Given the opportunity and timing of this product in today’s market needs, we are super excited to join hands in their journey."

Source - Times of India, Business Line

Chennai-based IoT Startup DeTect Technologies Raises $3.3 Mn from SAIF Partners, Others

Chennai-headquartered and IIT Madras incubated Internet of Things (IoT) Startup, DeTect Technologies, has raised $3.3 million ( ~ INR 23.53 crores) in Series A round of fundind led by SAIF Partners. Bharat Innovation Fund, Axilor Ventures, BlueHill Capital Pvt Ltd and a few angels from the Keiretsu Forum have also participated in the round. Currently operating in Chennai, Bangalore, Jamnagar and the UK, this latest infusion of growth capital will be used for international expansion, for building manufacturing capability for mass production of their patented technology products GUMPS and NOCTUA and to also supplement the core R&D focus of the company.

The startup had earlier raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IIM Ahmedabad's CIIE, Axilor Ventures and angel network Keiretsu Forum in August last year.

Focusing on developing patented technologies, currently DeTect Technologies has two products in their portfolio, the services of which they are looking at expanding to other countries. Both the products, GUMPS and NOCTUA, are aimed at increasing the productivity of industries at large thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the opportunities for manual errors.

GUMPS, the first sensor in the world, that can monitor pipeline thickness change in real time with the help of machine learning algorithms increases the efficiency of the inspection process. A unique feature of the product is that it can even operate at temperatures of upto 300 deg Celsius.

NOCTUA, and industrial drone, tailor made for process industry inspections,conducts automated visual and thermal inspection of industrial infrastructures and significantly reduces maintenance and inspection efforts including scaffoldings, etc. The product has been built out to serve process industries as a market segment.

Both products have seen tremendous adoption in the Oil and Gas markets in India.

Daniel Raj David, CEO and Co-Founder, DeTect Technologies said, “ Our goal here at DeTect Technologies is to leverage high end engineering talent, build deep technology, design cutting edge infrastructure and create high end patented solutions for asset risk monitoring and also estimating their life predictions. By developing sensor technology, drone technology, image processing and machine learning algorithms here in India, our technologies are focused on improving operational efficiencies for industries at large by helping them enhance monitoring and increase safety and accuracy."

[caption id="attachment_127358" align="aligncenter" width="738"] DeTect Technologies founding team [/caption]

“Developing patented technologies to perform intelligent asset monitoring to perform risk evaluation and estimated life prediction for improving safety and efficiency is at the core of our philosophy. We are happy to have received support from SAIF Partners and additional support from our existing investors Bharat Innovation Fund, Axilor Ventures, BlueHill Capital Pvt Ltd and angels from the Keiretsu Forum as it solidifies our resolve in revolutionizing the industrial landscape. Our growing partnership with SAIF will not only help us with with an expanded capital base but will also propel the company’s ambitions to cater to global Oil and Gas Markets and take indigenous core technology built in India to the rest of the world.”

Announcing the investment Mridul Arora, Managing Director, SAIF Partners said, “We are very excited to partner with the Detect team as they bring a rare combination of deep domain expertise, global market opportunity and high entrepreneurial energy. Global oil and gas majors have flocked to Detect to take advantage of Detect’s asset monitoring and inspection solutions and we’re confident that the team will continue to expand its global footprint. The SAIF team is proud to support the ambitions of deep tech Indian startups such as Detect."

Ashwin Raguraman, Founding Partner, Bharat Innovation fund said, “Having been closely involved with Detect for over a year, it is incredible to observe the pace at which Detects solution has grown, from a raw promising technology, to a couple of full fledged world class products that are being consumed by the biggest corporations in the world. Detect is tackling a problem that others havent even come close to solving and it is fascinating to have been and continue to be a part of their evolutionary story.”

The company has a 80 member team, with 50 permanent employees with operations in Chennai, Bangalore, Jamnagar and the UK (London and Aberdeen). Detect is looking to double its employee count this year. They currently have orders within India and are also working with four other countries-USA, UK, Portugal and Singapore.

The concept of Detect started in IIT Madras in 2013 and was founded by alumni Tarun Mishra, Daniel Raj David, Harikrishnan AS, Karthik R, and professor Krishnan Balasubramanian. The company was incorporated on Feb 23rd 2016 and had a vision to become a global leader in asset integrity and monitoring solutions, in the space of Risk Analysis and Remaining Life Estimation to target continuous and safe industry operations. The core philosophy of the company is to build globally patented hardware and software solutions in the space of sensor building, manufacturing, IOT, robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Computer Vision. IIT Madras being a hub of hardware technology inventions has proved to be a great base to build the initial R&D team.