Bengaluru based Simple Energy Bags Rs 165 Crore Funding To Launch Its Escooter ‘Simple ONE’ Soon

EV and clean energy startup, Simple Energy,  has raised over 165 crores in its ongoing Bridge round. Speaking in a recent press release, the company has mindfully decided to utilise these funds in a phased manner to kickstart the production of its electric scooter Simple ONE. The startup claims it has recently received a fruitful response with over 1 lakh bookings from its customers.

Started in 2019 by Suhas Rajkumar, Simple Energy is a Bengaluru-based startup which deals in surface and chassis designs, incorporating battery and motor development. In a very recent event, its brand-new facility has been inaugurated in Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore.

The fresh fund worth has come after a gap of 15 months, witnessing the participation of stakeholders 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. 

This business brilliantly generated Rs 8.5 lakh in revenue from operations against nil in FY21. As per its combined annual financial statement with the RoC, its losses escalated up to Rs 8.31 crore in FY22 from Rs 28 lakh in the previous fiscal year.

During its pre-series investment in 2021, the company managed to raise $21 million. The firm was commended at $200 million during the last round. Having said that, the CEO did not divulge his company's current valuation.

The country’s EV segment is flourishing with funding activities along with government-led schemes. For beginners, 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.

The company contests with Ola Electric, and 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 places such as Okinawa, Hero Electric and Ampere posted Rs 822 crore, Rs 841 crore, and Rs 522 crore topline respectively in FY22.