EV Scooter Maker Simple Energy Raises $20 Mn in Bridge Round

Electric vehicle and clean energy startup Simple Energy has raised over $20 million in the ongoing bridge round. The fresh fund has come after a gap of 15 months for the Bengaluru-based startup.

The bridge round witnessed the participation of investors from Arokiaswamy Velumani, founder of Thyrocare, Ashwin Hinduja of Gokaldas Group, Sanjay & Sandeep Wadhawa, owner of Nash Industries, Purple Moon Ventures along with existing investors like Manish Bharti & Vasavi Green Tech.

The company will use these funds in a phased manner to accelerate production of its electric scooter Simple ONE, the company said in a press release. Simple Energy claims that it has received a response with over 1 lakh bookings from its customers.

Previously, the startup had raised $21 million in pre-series investment in November 2021. Led by Suhas Rajkumar, the firm was valued at $200 million during the last round. However, the company did not disclose its current valuation.

Founded in 2019, Simple Energy also deals in surface and chassis designs along with battery and motor development. It recently inaugurated its new brand-new facility in Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore.

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Simple Energy generated Rs 8.5 lakh in revenue from operations against nil in FY21. As per its consolidated annual financial statement with the RoC, its losses shot up to Rs 8.31 crore in FY22 from Rs 28 lakh in the previous fiscal year.

The company competes with Ola Electric, Ather Energy, among others. Ather’s operating revenue grew 411.9% to Rs 408.5 crore in FY22 while Ola Electric is yet to file its FY22 numbers. During FY21, the SoftBank-backed company incurred a loss of Rs 200 crore against operating revenue of Rs 86 lakh. Other companies in the electric two wheeler segment such as Okinawa, Hero Electric and Ampere posted Rs 822 crore, Rs 841 crore, and Rs 522 crore topline respectively in FY22.

Data compiled by Fintrackr shows that startups in the electric vehicle segment raised nearly $800 million across 62 deals in 2022. This is a significant jump from $570 million across 47 deals in 2021.

This article has been published in an arrangement with Entrackr.