TVS-backed Ultraviolette eyes export to US, Europe | Tech Reddy

Backed by Qualcomm Ventures, South star Dulquer Salman and SaaS unicorn Zoho, the startup is raising its Series-D round at a valuation of $300 million, while growing global ambitions.

“Investors are in line with our plan to go international. They love the technology and believe that it has been designed to meet international standards,” said Narayan Subramaniam, the company’s chief executive and founder.

Bangalore-based Ultraviolette launched its first electric motorcycle, the F77, at a premium ₹3.8 lakh ex-showroom–different base, and limited flagship–price ₹5.5 lakh. The F77 Recon, a high end variant in many markets will be worth it ₹4.55 lakh ex-show.

Equipped with a 10.3-kWh battery for the top model, the startup claims to offer the longest range of any electric two-wheeler in India at over 300 km on a single charge.

The e-motorcycle maker is focusing first on preparing the domestic market from January 2023 and plans to open 10 experience points in major cities throughout the year, founders Niraj Rajmohan and Subramanium said in an interview.

While the first center will open in Bangalore in January, it is also looking to set up a service network before working on setting up its own service centers. “We look at cities as zones of the country. One city represents a region. While we need a physical presence, we need to rethink whether we need the network density of a typical OEM, Subramanium said.

Most potential customers now discover and experience a brand online, but the experience is created by the brand offline, he added.

Ultraviolette has a few thousand pre-orders for the motorcycles, but did not reveal the exact numbers. The high price tag on the motorcycles is true of the technological capabilities of the product, and it is a valuable thing for the customers, the founders say.

“We added our value to the previous showroom – this judgment is wrong. Please change it to We are trying to arrange a specific advance price for the showroom. So when we talk about a 7.1kwH pack, people will not expect this much at the price level we have. For example, in North America, those motorcycles start at R10 000. We wanted to make sure we hit the target of ex-showroom prices, and therefore have more options, such as an extended warranty. At this price point, the base model has twice the battery capacity of anything on the market, Rajmohan said.

“We offer the most advanced technology in the sector. If our goal was to meet the budget, nothing could be done anew,” said Narayan.

“The next step for the company is to establish a payment base. Our focus will be on urban connectivity,” he added.

Ultraviolette is targeting 15,000 units in its first year of production. “The business can go up to 100,000 units a year. In our second year, we will do 50,000-60,000 volumes, before increasing to a larger volume in the third year. We saw fit to grow organically to take into account the flexibility of supply chains, etc.,” Rajmohan said.