BLive Raised $1Mn Funding In A Pre-Series A Round

BLive has announced the raise of $1Mn, part of the follow-on capital of Pre-Series A round. The funding which was a combination of debt & equity was led by LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO and Credit Wise Capital.

The company had raised funds led by a strategic investment from DNA Networks in September 2019. Post Covid, the company received funding from LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO and CreditWise Capital which demonstrated the investor confidence in the company’s business model and growth in the EV Category.

In a short span of time, Blive EV Tours has expanded to top 15 cities across 9 states in India and has completed over 10000 eBike tours so far. Driven by the increase in domestic tourism post-pandemic, BLive has seen a 3x growth in its eBike Tours. Founded in 2018 by Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, BLive offers unique, experiential, guided tours on electric bikes with an aim to promote sustainable tourism in India. BLive is the official EV tourism partner of Goa Tourism. The company has partnered with hospitality partners like – Club Mahindra, Taj Hotels, Grand Hyatt, Airbnb to name a few.

In 2020 BLive launched India's first online EV marketplace offering top brands of E-Cycles and E-Scooters. Brands like Hero Electric, Ampere, Hero Lectro, Go Zero & Lightspeed are available on the BLive Store. It recently started an ‘Exchange and Upgrade Program that is aimed to promote the adoption of electric vehicles. Two-wheeler petrol vehicle owners can exchange their existing fuel dependent 2-Wheelers and upgrade to a new electric vehicle. The EV Store has already successfully delivered to customers in over 25 Cities in less than 3 months of online store launch.

Speaking about the investment, Samarth Kholkar & Sandeep Mukherjee Co-Founders, BLive, said, “At Blive, we want to reduce all hurdles for consumers to transition to Electric Mobility, whether it is with EV Tours where consumers are getting a first-hand experience of EVs or our EV Store, where we seamlessly guide consumers through choice, expertise and convenience of ownership. This year, we are looking at growing the EV tours to over 30+ locations and adding more Two-Wheeler EV brands and ownership models to the EV Store through both online and offline channels.”

Shanti Mohan, Founder, LetsVenture, said, “With India’s potential to be the next EV market leader of the world, we want to ensure that we support startups like BLive, who provide a completely unique way to users of experiencing and owning Two-Wheeler EVs. Boost in domestic travel and growth in EV category presents BLive a great opportunity to grow and expand to bigger markets.”

Currently, electric mobility is one of the fastest-growing categories, which is only expected to rise further in the coming year. Factors like the skyrocketing fuel prices and strong government initiatives to push for the adoption of Electric Vehicles will bring a significant transformation in the industry.