TVS Motor Completes Acquisition of Iconic Sports Motorcycle 'Norton'

TVS Motor Company, a reputed manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the world, today announced the successful acquisition of Britain's most iconic sporting motorcycle, "Norton", in an all-cash deal for a consideration of GBP16 million by acquiring certain assets of Norton Motorcycles (U.K.) Limited (in administration) through one of TVS Motor's overseas subsidiaries. This will be one of the most interesting acquisitions of a storied motorcycle maker in recent times and will reflect TVS Motor Company's and India's rapidly rising prominence in the international two-wheeler market.

Founded by James Lansdowne Norton, in Birmingham, in 1898, Norton Motorcycles is among the most popular British motorcycle brands of all time and is one of the most emotive marques today. Since the 20th century, Norton Motorcycles is renowned for their classic models and eclectic range of luxury motorcycles ranging from authentic retro classic reboots of the famous Commando to their contemporary 200 bhp, 1200cc V4 super-bikes.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mr. Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director, TVS Motor Company said, "This is a momentous time for us at TVS Motor Company. Norton is an iconic British brand celebrated across the world and presents us with an immense opportunity to scale globally. This transaction is in line with our effort to cater to the aspirations of discerning motorcycle customers. We will extend our full support for Norton to regain its full glory in the international motorcycle landscape."

[caption id="attachment_144397" align="alignleft" width="200"] Mr. Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director, TVS Motor Company[/caption]

Mr. Sudarshan Venu further added, "Norton will continue to retain its distinctive identity with dedicated and specific business plans. TVS Motor will work closely with customers and employees in building the success and pre-eminence of the Norton Motorcycles brand and we look forward to growing together globally in the years to come."

TVS Motor Company is excited about the existing and upcoming products at Norton Motorcycles including Commando, Dominator and V4 RR. Confident of the strong synergy between both the brands, we believe that Norton Motorcycles can leverage TVS Motor Company's global reach and supply chain capabilities to expand to new markets.

The acquisition was undertaken under the guidance of financial advisors, Rothschild and Co, and legal advice for the transaction was provided by Khaitan & Co, and Slaughter and May.

TVS Motor Company is a reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer and is the flagship company of the USD 8.5 billion TVS Group. We believe in Championing Progress through Mobility. Rooted in our 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, and Passion for Customers and Exactness, we take pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. We endeavour to deliver the most superior customer experience at all our touch points across 60 countries. We are the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. Our products lead in their respective categories in the J.D. Power IQS and APEAL surveys for five years. We have been ranked No. 1 Company in the J.D. Power Customer Service Satisfaction Survey for consecutive four years.

~ Newsvoir

TVS Motor Company and Group Companies Pledge Rs. 25 Crores to PM's Relief Fund (PM-CARES) Dedicated to Fight COVID-19

TVS Motor Company, a reputed manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers and its Group Companies TVS Credit Services Ltd., Sundaram-Clayton Ltd., and others today announced their commitment to donate Rs. 25 Crores to the PM's Relief Fund (PM-CARES) to aid the battle against COVID-19. This is in line with the company's continuous endeavour to ensure prosperous and sustainable communities. It is in addition to the ongoing activities being already undertaken through Srinivasan Services Trust, the CSR arm of the group.

"The COVID-19 pandemic marks an unprecedented time in modern history and it will require the best of humanity to overcome the battle. We applaud the Govt's strong resolve and numerous actions to fight this. Now, more than ever, it requires all of us to cooperate and support each other as a nation,'' said Mr. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company.

Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of the group is implementing various measures ranging from manufacturing and supplying supportive equipment such as masks, to providing cooked meals to those in the frontline - from healthcare workers to police officers. Some of the key initiatives that have already begun include:

Making and supplying 1 Million protective face masks for essential service providers

Deploying vehicles and disinfectants to municipalities and helping produce medical equipment

Employing factory kitchens at the manufacturing units in Hosur, Padi and Mysuru to make pre-packed cooked meals. These will be supplied to all essential care workers in the vicinity, from police personnel, municipal staff to healthcare workers

In Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, dry rations will be supplied to daily wage workers who have been displaced and to villagers without food supplies

The company is evaluating collaboration with 3D printing companies to make ventilators to support the hospitals

About TVS Motor Company

TVS Motor Company is a reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer and is the flagship company of the USD 8.5 billion TVS Group. We believe in Championing Progress through Mobility. Rooted in our 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, and Passion for Customers and Exactness, we take pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. We endeavor to deliver the most superior customer experience at all our touch points across 60 countries. We are the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. Our products lead in their respective categories in the J.D. Power IQS and APEAL surveys for five years. We have been ranked No. 1 Company in the J.D. Power Customer Service Satisfaction Survey for consecutive four years.

For more information, please visit www.tvsmotor.com.

TVS Motor Forays into Electric 2-Wheeler Segment; Launches E-Scooter at Rs 1.15 Lakh

TVS Motor Company on Saturday said it has forayed into electric segment with the launch of an e-scooter, priced at Rs 1.15 lakh (on-road in the city).

Equipped with 4.4 kw electric motor, the TVS iQube Electric can achieve a top speed of 78 kmph with a range of 75 kms in one full charge.

The scooter can accelerate from of 0 to 40 kmph in 4.2 seconds.

The model also comes with TVS SmartXonnect platform which encompasses multiple features such as geo-fencing, remote battery charge navigation, among others.

"As India moves ahead, its mobility solutions would increasingly be total experience-led, nowhere is this felt sharper than among the youth of India. Our focus on the ‘Green & Connected' youth of India, is embodied, in the first of the TVS Electric portfolio," TVS Motor Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan said.

The electric scooter was launched by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Union Transport Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari, along with Srinivasan. PTI MSS

TVS Motor's Singapore Arm Invests $3.2 Mn in Analytics Firm Predictronics

TVS Motor Company on Saturday said its Singapore arm has invested USD 3.2 million in US-based Predictronics Corporation which specialises in providing end-to-end predictive maintenance analytics solutions.

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, has signed definitive agreements with Predictronics Corporation, a US corporation, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the company said in a statement.

Notably, in last month, TVS Motor had invested $7 Mn in an another US-based firm, Scienaptic, which is an AI-powered Big Data Firm that also has an engineering centre in Bengaluru, India.

TVS Motor Company Board Member and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore) Rajesh Narasimhan said, "We evaluated many companies globally providing Predictive Maintenance solutions and found Predictronics' product offerings and solutions to be a clear differentiator...We are hence happy to invest in and strategically partner with Predictronics as they continue to deliver business improvements for Fortune 500 companies while leveraging them for our businesses."

Predictronics' solutions combine expertise in IIoT (industrial internet of things), industrial AI, big data, machine learning, and predictive analytics to remove uncertainty from industrial operations and improve process uptime, production planning, maintenance, and product quality by providing actionable information and accurate predictions that empower clients to have a transparent, worry-free business, the statement said.

Predictronics Co-Founder and CEO Edzel Lapira said, "We believe TVS Motor Company is an ideal strategic investor and partner for Predictronics with the forward-looking vision, dedication, and clear business case for harnessing the power of advanced analytics technologies."

Investment from a company like TVS is also key for a firm like Predictronics to guide, improve, and validate its technology, deployment strategy, business model and go-to market, Lapira added. PTI RKL

TVS Motor Invests $7 Mn in US-based Scienaptic, An AI-powered Big Data Firm

TVS Motor Company on Monday said it has inked a pact to invest USD 7 million (around Rs 48.25 crore) in New York-based Scienaptic Systems Inc, which has an engineering centre in Bengaluru.

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has signed definitive agreements to invest in Scienaptic, a Delaware corporation, TVS Motor Company said in a statement.

Headquartered in New York, Scienaptic was started in 2014 by Pankaj Kulshreshtha and has an engineering centre in Bengaluru. The company has received strategic investments from the senior industry leader and former Nasscom Chairman, Pramod Bhasin.

Scienaptic has combined latest big data technologies and proprietary Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms on its decision platform, ‘Ether'. Solutions built on Ether enable enterprises to improve risk and credit assessment, monitor evolving fraud patterns, and improve customer journeys and experience. Scienaptic has several Fortune 100 enterprises as its clients.

[caption id="attachment_132176" align="aligncenter" width="949"] Pankaj Kulshreshtha, Founder, Scienaptic Systems[/caption]

"Scienaptic's end-to-end data analytics solution with applicability to customers in various industries has the potential to generate a new profit stream for our group,” Board Member of TVS Motor Company and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore) Rajesh Narasimhan said.

Scienaptic Founder and CEO Pankaj Kulshreshtha said the investment by TVS enables it to accelerate its sales and product development.

"We found a significant match in value systems between the two organisations and believe that our collective strengths will enable Scienaptic to grow exponentially and become a global leader in AI-powered decisioning space,” he added.

TVS shares Monday ended 4.12 per cent down at Rs 379.65 on the BSE.

To recall, in May TVS Motor, along with and its Singapore-based subsidiary, had invested $3.85 million in TagBox, a Bangalore-based IoT and Analytics solutions startup catering Cold Chain Logistics supply chain market,

IoT Startup for Cold Chain Logistics Tagbox Raises $3.8 Mn from TVS Motor

Just a week after investing in Pune-based Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) startup Altizon Inc, TVS Motor Company today announced that it has invested $3.85 million in Series A round of funding of TagBox, a Bangalore-based IoT and Analytics solutions startup catering Cold Chain Logistics supply chain market, reported Business Line.

The fund round was led entirely by TVS Motor Company and its Singapore-based subsidiary TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte. Limited, which led the $7 million series A+ funding round of Altizon, in late last month.

TagBox plans to use the funds to strengthen product innovation and R&D, while expanding its global footprint. The startup, which uses IoT, Machine Learning and Automation for its solutions offerings, will continue to invest in its BoxLens and AssetLens platforms and develop new predictive analytics and automation solutions to solve various customer use cases.

Tagbox was founded in 2016 by Adarsh Kumar, Sameer Singh and Saumitra Singh. It was started with the vision of enabling organizations to make their Supply Chains more reliable using IoT based monitoring, Advanced Analytics and Automation & Control. Accordding to the company website, the name 'TagBox' itself comes from the fact that the company wants to cost-effectively and reliably tag any supply chain shipment at the highest level of granularity (box), monitor its health real time and ensure that the shipments’ quality is not compromised.

The startup is working with Retail, Pharma, F&B, Dairy and Glass companies in India and APAC.

speaking on investment in Tagbox, Rajesh Narasimhan, Board Member of TVS Motor Company, and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore), said,"We evaluated many companies providing IoT solutions in the Supply Chain and logistics space and found TagBox’s product offerings and solutions to be an unique blend of IoT, Machine Learning and close-loop AI."

TVS Motor's investment in Tagbox is part of the initial set of investments being made in strategically relevant digital startups. In August last year, Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup, Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd, had received an additional investment of ₹6 crore from TVS Motor, who bought a 14.78% stake in Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd., in December 2017.

Pune-based Industrial IoT Firm Altizon Raises $7Mn from TVS Motor's Singapore Subsidy

Pune-based Altizon Inc, a global Industrial IoT (IIoT) platform company addressing the manufacturing industries, today announced the closure of its series A+ funding round of $7 million. This important round was led by TVS Motor Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited, the Singapore based Subsidiary of TVS Motor Company Limited and participated by existing investors The Hive, Wipro Ventures, and Lumis Partners.

Altizon plans to use the funds to strengthen its international presence and continue its investments in IP development. Altizon’s Datonis Industrial IoT platform addresses the breadth of industrial IoT needs from intelligent edge computing to business applications for smart manufacturing.

With the latest funding, Altizon raised a total of about $11 million in five rounds. The startup had earlier raised undisclosed amount in July 2018 from a non-equity assistance round. Prior to which, it had raised $4 million in Series A funding round led by Wipro Ventures, the $100-million venture capital arm of India's third largest software exporter Wipro, in February 2016.

“The Industrial IOT market continues to expand at a rapid pace and this investment brings on board TVS Motor Company which is the flagship company of the multi-billion $ TVS Group, with deep experience building companies in the industrial sector,” said Vinay Nathan, CEO of Altizon. Vinay further added, “We have a strong roster of global industrial majors as our customers and they can now gain further benefit from our global footprints and enhanced technology offerings.”

Rajesh Narasimhan, Board Member of TVS Motor Company and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore) quoted “After detailed assessments around industrial IOT platforms we found Altizon’s technology portfolio of definitive value in driving digital transformation with Industrial IOT. We are hence delighted to invest and have the opportunity to partner them in their exciting journey of growth and market leadership. This is amongst our first set of investments in digital start-ups focused on the Automotive and Fintech Industries.”

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte. Limited, headquartered in Singapore is the wholly owned subsidiary of TVS Motor Company that is being leveraged to operationalize a digital technology startup focused on the Automotive and Fintech industries with portfolios and offerings that will deliver high quality solutions to help address real life business challenges by harnessing the power of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML) and Virtual reality (VR). The strategy adopts both inorganic and organic means for the initial build out and subsequent expansion and growth.

Founded in 2013, by Ranjit Nair, Vinay Nathan and Yogesh Kulkarni, Altizon is an Industrial IoT company empowering Industrial Digital Revolutions globally by helping enterprises use machine data to drive business decisions. With a global footprint of over 100 enterprise users, Altizon is recognized by Gartner in its Magic Quadrant for IIoT Platforms and by other analyst firms including Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan, VDC Research and BCG.

TVS Motor Company is a public listed company headquartered in India. It is a highly reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer, and the flagship company of the USD 8.5 billion TVS Group. Rooted in the 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, Passion for Customers and Exactness, it takes pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. TVS Motor Company is also the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. It is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and ranks in the top 10 globally. The company has an excellent track record with innovation and quality and is the market leader in customer service.

Top Featured Image - Youtube

Bengaluru-based Electric Motorcycle Startup Ultraviolette Raises Additional ₹ 6 Crore from TVS Motor

Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup, Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd, which is currently building an electric motorcycle, has announced that the company has received an additional investment of ₹6 crore from TVS Motor Company.

The investment is part of the Series A funding from TVS to Ultraviolette. The additional investment will be deployed for continued product engineering and further expansion of Ultraviolette Automotive's R&D team and facility.

Founded in 2014, by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, Ultraviolette is a electric mobility solutions provider currently building an electric motorcycle that is said to outperform traditional internal combustion engine motorcycles in the 200-250 cc segment.

Niraj Rajmohan, Founder and CTO, Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt. Ltd., said "We see great long term synergy in our partnership with TVS Motor Company considering the rich heritage and decades of industry experience they bring, and the innovations in design and technology at Ultraviolette Automotive. With this investment, we are looking to ramp up the development of high-end electric powertrains, battery modules and connected technology."

[caption id="attachment_125557" align="aligncenter" width="700"] An artist design prototype of Ultraviollete Motorcycle [/caption]

K Gopaladesikan, CFO, TVS Motor Company, said on the company's investment, "At TVS Motor Company, we are committed to creating offerings with best-in-class quality, cutting-edge technology and that delights the customer."

"As a responsible manufacturer, we see immense promise in Ultraviolette Automotive's vision of bringing innovative and sustainable electric vehicles in India. Ultraviolette Automotive has made significant progress in their product engineering in a short span of time and we are confident that they will build a product that will pave the way for electric mobility in the country," said Gopaladesikan

TVS Motor Company bought a 14.78 per cent stake in Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd., in December 2017.

In last one year or so, almost all automobile major in India have invested in electric mobility startups. In June, Bharat Forge invested $13.5 million in Tevva Motors, a British and Israeli electric truck company operating in UK. Prior to this, the auto major had also invested about Rs 300 million to acquire 45% stake in Pune-based electric vehicle startup TORK Motors.

In February this year, another Indian automobile firm Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd invested about $1 million in Mumbai-based connected car IoT-device making startup Carsense (formerly Carnot) for 22.9% stake in Carnot Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent company of brand name Carsense.

In May this year, Indian electric vehicle industry suffered a push back when the much awaited FAME-II scheme roadmap, which could subsidize the EV purchase in India, has been postponed to indefinite time as government think tank NITI Aayog and various ministries are having a tough time building consensus regarding future roadmap to boost electric mobility in India.

Source - NDTV Auto

[Top Image - Facebook.com/Ultraviolette]

TVS Acquires 15% Stake in Electric Two-Wheeler Startup Ultraviolette

TVS, India's third largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has announced that it has bought a 14.78% stake in Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based startup working on electric two-wheelers and energy infrastructure.

The total cost of acquisition of stake was valued at a little over Rs.5 crore, TVS said in a stock exchange filing.

Notably, Ultraviolette has yet to launch its electric two-wheelers. The startup has has tested three prototypes till now and has not launched any electric two-wheeler.

According to the exchange filing, Ultraviolette had just Rs 3.21 lakh revenue in 2016-17.

Ultraviolette was founded in December 2015 by Niraj Rajmohan and Narayan Subramaniam, alumni of the BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

The development was first reported in Business Standard.

It is notable that TVS not the first two-wheeler manufacturer who has invested in the country's electric two-wheeler startup. Earlier, in October 2016, Hero MotoCorp Ltd had acquired a stake in Ather Enerygy, which is also a electric two-wheeler startup, also backed by Ratan Tata. Hero invested Rs.205 crore in Bengaluru based EV startup Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd .

Meanwhile, TVS is developing an electric scooter code-named U218 as other two-wheeler makers such as Bajaj Auto Ltd, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd, Mahindra 2 Wheelers Ltd and India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd are all set to launch electric two-wheelers in 2018, according to a report in The Economic Times.