Electric vehicle maker EKA Mobility has raised INR 200 crore from the private equity firm ENAM Holdings.
According to EKA’s founder, Sudhir Mehta, if the company meets its internal goals, this funding could help EKA become a unicorn—a company valued at over $1 billion.
The Pune-based startup plans to use the newly raised funds, which came through convertible preference shares, to build three manufacturing plants.
EKA Mobility already has two manufacturing plants up and running. Its bus plant in Pune is currently operating at phase one capacity, and the company plans to expand it to phase two in the next few months.
EKA’s second plant in Chakan is fully operational. The company is also building a third plant in Madhya Pradesh, and construction has already started. This new facility is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
These new factories are expected to help EKA expand its product range over the next two years. During this time, the company plans to launch several passenger vehicles, starting from a small 3-seater to a large 125-seater bus.
In the goods carrier segment, the company will roll out products covering half-tonne carriers to 55-tonne carriers. “So this will be done over the next two years, and we hope to have the largest commercial electric vehicle portfolio in the country,” said Mehta.
Right now, EKA Mobility has orders for 3,000 buses, with more on the way from state governments and private companies. The company plans to deliver between 2,000 to 2,500 buses in this financial year.
Next year, EKA Mobility will be able to produce 1,000 buses every month. At the new factory that’s currently being built, the company plans to gradually increase capacity to 5,000 vehicles per month in different phases.
Mehta also added that the company and its suppliers have stocked up on rare earth magnets, crucial for manufacturing EVs. “It is a concern because this is one of the areas in which China is kind of the only game in town…in the short term, we are certainly engaging intensively with the government as an industry body,” he said.
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