Hero Electric has reportedly secured USD 29 million during a Series B funding round that was led by UAE-based financial services company, Gulf Islamic Investments LLC, with added participation from existing investor OAKS Asset Management.
India's largest electric scooter company intends to use the fresh funds to expand its production capacity amidst the growing trend of sustainable mobility solutions. This will also echo its efforts to intensify its competitive lead and will focus on developing affordable and flexible products for Indian consumers.
Naveen Munjal, MD of Hero Electric said that the company seeks to sell over 1 million units in the coming 2 years. He states that the EV space has encountered colossal changes in the last couple of years due to favorable policies for the growth of the segment.
Hero Electric is planning to invest a minimum of USD 94 million to improve annual production capacity to 1 million units by the next four years, along with building numerous plants by the next 2 years. Presently, the company manufactures 75,000 units every year.
The new plants will be located at 2 to 3 locations near a port for facilitating easy export. Munjal believes that the new investment round will benefit Hero electric in increasing research and development activities as well as in expanding production capacity to launch innovative products.
Hero Electric had initially secured USD 21 million in funding from Mumbai’s Alpha Capital in December 2018 to build its second factory. A portion of the capital was also utilized to launch new products and increase its dealership network.
Though Naveen Munjal is a relative of the Munjals of Indian automotive giant Hero Motorcorp, Hero Electric is not affiliated with the latter. In fact, Hero MotoCorp is an investor in EV maker Ather, which rivals Hero Electric.
Ather had secured USD 260 million in a Series D funding round in November last year.
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