BENGALURU: E-bike rental startup Yul, which is aiming to go public, said it expects to be profitable by September and plans to expand its presence in India and abroad.
The startup currently has operations in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai and plans to expand to cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad over the next 15 months.
It will also seek partnerships with local entrepreneurs in smaller markets such as Varanasi, Agra and Goa.
“We are ready to offer Yul’s technology platform to anyone who wants to operate a small fleet in a city without a long-term plan,” Chief Executive Amit Gupta told Reuters.
The plan comes amid widespread government push to electrify shared transport, with Yul looking to fend off rivals such as Gogoro-backed Zayp Electric and Softbank-backed Ola, delivery companies Zomato, Swiggy was born while relying on an alliance with Zept. Electrical.
Delivery executives account for 60 percent of Yulu’s fleet usage and revenue share, the company said in a statement to Reuters, adding that more than 50,000 of them used its service in fiscal 2023.
Co-founded by Gupta, RK Misra and Naveen Dachuri in 2017, Yul aims to quadruple its vehicle fleet to 100,000 by the end of this year.
A company spokesman said the company’s annual loss narrowed from 611 million rupees in 2021 to 555 million rupees ($6.8 million) in 2022, with full-year results for 2023 still to be announced. He added that he did not.
Yul’s bike is made by Bajaj Auto, which exports vehicles to more than 70 countries. The startup plans to take advantage of industry veterans to expand overseas.
“Countries that might be interesting are those that have introduced EVs as a policy, such as Thailand and Indonesia,” Gupta said.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/indias-yulu-eyes-expansion-it-closes-profitability-3561801 India’s Yul Aims to Expand Close to Earnings