Simple Energy Bags $20 Mn To Ramp Up Production Of Its Escooter ‘Simple ONE’

EV and clean energy startup Simple Energy has raised over $20Mn in its ongoing Bridge round. The startup aims to utilise the fresh capital in a phased manner to ramp up production of its electric scooter, Simple ONE. The startup said its escooter Simple ONE has received more than 1 lakh bookings so far.

Dr Arokiaswamy Velumani, founder of Thyrocare Technologies, Ashwin Hinduja of Gokaldas Group, Sanjay & Sandeep Wadhawa, owner, of Nash Industries, Sripriya Kalyanasundaram, chief strategy and evangelist to CEO’s office, Lambda Test, Purple Moon Ventures along with existing investors Manish Bharti & Vasavi Green Tech were part of the Bridge round. 

Sharing thoughts on the fund raise, Suhas Rajkumar, Founder & CEO, of Simple Energy, said, “With the propagation of EVs catching up on a massive scale in India, we believe in being a key participant in this ecosystem. We have received a phenomenal pre-booking response and to cater to the demand, we are raising funds in a timely manner. We are ever grateful to all the investors for placing their faith in our brand. The funds raised will be strategically used to aid the production ramp-up and for a quicker delivery commencement.”

Founded in 2019 by Rajukumar, this Bengaluru-based startup inaugurated its manufacturing facility in Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu with an initial INR 100 Cr investment last month.

“Simple Energy is one of the few startups which has all the ingredients to be a market leader: founders with diverse expertise; customer-first approach; benchmarking of the product by category; understanding of customer needs; and a clear vision of products to be introduced in the market over the next 36 months. I am convinced that Simple Energy will bring a paradigm shift in how the Indian consumer views technologically advanced EV two-wheelers and will be a world-class brand that people of Indian origin everywhere will be proud of,” said Dr Arokiaswamy Velumani, founder, Thyrocare Technologies Limited.

Simple Energy raised $21 Mn in October 2021 in its Pre-Series funding round while it bagged an undisclosed amount in March 2022.

The country’s EV segment has been abuzz with funding activities along with government led initiatives and schemes to encourage the EV adoption process. 

For instance, Maharashtra secured top position in the highest number of electric vehicle (EV) sales in the country under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.

Further, EV powertrain manufacturer Entuple E-Mobility raised $3 Mn funding in a Pre-Series A funding round from Blue Ashva Capital and Capital A recently. Likewise, another EV startup Battery Smart raised $9Mn debt funding from Stride Ventures in December. 

For the uninitiated, the FAME-II scheme allows EV makers to offer a discount of up to 40% on the cost of their vehicles and claim that as subsidies. The scheme has a total outlay of INR 10,000 Cr. It further mandates the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to install at least 50% of locally-manufactured components in their EVs to claim the subsidy.

If we speak about EV adoption in India, in 2022, 9,42,756 two-wheelers were sold and the industry is evolving from early adoption to the next level of adoption. 

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