E-Mobility Startup Baaz Bikes Eyes New Subscription Models with $8 Mn Funding

E-Mobility Startup Baaz Bikes Eyes New Subscription Model with $8 Mn Funding

Baaz Bikes, an electric mobility platform that helps gig workers make deliveries by its in-house designed bikes supported by automated battery swapping infrastructure, has pocketed $8 Mn in its Series A funding round.

The funding round was led by BIG Capital based in Singapore. It also saw participation from Japan-based Rakuten Capital, Kalaari Capital, 9Unicorns, and Sumant Sinha.

The freshly infused funds will help the startup expand its ebike offerings for last-mile delivery. This will be achieved by scaling its EV ecosystem while also refining the current product ecosystem.  A new line of escooters that can be used as bike taxis will also be introduced.

New ownership models

The funding scooped up will be employed to introduce new ownership models for riders. The CEO of the startup, Abhinav Sharma informed that a sell and subscribe model for gig workers could be in the works. The model will see the gig workers buy escooters and subscribe for the energy.

Currently, the subscription model of Baaz Bikes covers gig workers from Zomato, Zepto, Swiggy and Amazon. Under the model, that also entails battery swaps, the startup charges INR 5,000 per month per scooter.

As of now, the startup has presence in south Delhi and has now set sights on expansion all over Delhi-NCR by consolidating its Baaz Swap infrastructure in a period of the following nine to ten months.

Baaz Bikes aspires to have 6,000-7,000 escooters on the roads in the next eight months. As of now, it boasts close to 35 swapping stations. The startup wants to raise this number to 300 in the same timeline.

The startup has pocked $10.3 Mn thus far including the latest funding.

Baaz Bikes is a brainchild of IIT Delhi alumni – Abhinav Sharma, Shubham Srivastava, Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena.

Several reports concur that the Indian electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem is seeing an influx of investments. Between January 2023 to August 2023, deals to the tune of $1.2bn have been announced. In 2022, 3,300 deals were concluded globally. The largest capital raised was in energy storage, renewables, energy distribution, and electric mobility.