TDK Backs Ultraviolet with $ 21 million

Two months ago, the Indian electric motorcycle starts expanded ultraviolet to 10 European countries. Now that was burned with $ 21 million in a round with the entire equity led by the company’s venture arm by Japanese electronics giant TDK Corporation, Ultraviolette puts its expansion plans in exaggeration.

The nine-year start-up plans to grow its European footprint fourfold, enter other motorcycle-powered markets such as Latin America and Southeast Asia and increase its portfolio to 14 models by early 2027. Ultraviolette’s global expansion follows the 2024 launch of its F77 Mach 2-flagging model and its other product, F77 Superstreet, in February.

Behind Ultraviolette are two childhood friends-managing director Narayan Subramaniam and CTO Niraj Rajmohan-AS combined their expertise in mechanical engineering, car design, computer science and electronics to electrify the middle-segmented two-wheel market.

The duo, which drew inspiration from Tesla, started ultraviolet at a time when India’s electric two-wheel market was dominated by low-speed models, mainly catering for commercial and utility needs. The early boom was run by Chinese imports offering cheap options, followed by a wave of homework startups and recently older producers entering the square.

Instead of becoming another player in this race, Ultraviolet-Med Founders began to build electric motorcycles that could match the performance of 150cc to 800cc Cinister Motor Sports Bikes.

“We asked ourselves if we have to make electrically exciting in two -wheeler, what would it take? And that is the goal we started with,” Rajmohan (depicted above, to the right) said in an exclusive conversation.

The Bengaluru-based start-up took about four years from the start in 2016 to reveal the first model in 2019. The startup reviewed several design literations before ending the seventh version-der of the name F77. The commercial version debuted with a fixed battery pack to deliver over 186 miles of range and a top speed of 96 miles/hour with a 30 kW Speak Power and up to 100 Newton-Meter Tarchy.

Ultraviolet has also revealed the lightweight shockwave motorcycle as well as the Tesseract scooter containing front and rear radars and cameras to enable an assisted driving experience and blind spot detection. The scooter costs £ 145,000 ($ 1,650), while its motorcycles (ex-showroom) have a base price of $ 175,000 ($ 2,000) and goes up to $ 10,000.

Ultraviolette’s vehicles are equipped with eSIM connection and has predictable maintenance powered by a proprietary diagnostic system. Rajmohan said the system can detect even minor problems, such as when the chain needs lubrication. The startup offers an app that gives all these insights to consumers on the go.

The company has also created a production and assembly facility in Bengalurus Electronics City with a capacity of 30,000 units. Today, the company handles everything internally from developing embedded software and battery control systems for motor controllers and even battery production. About 500 people work on ultraviolet, including 200 in corporate functions and F&U.

Ultraviolette’s business model was partially shaped by Tesla owners. The co-founders spent time talking to Tesla owners in the United States, who were among the first to buy Model S in 2015, to learn what made that car different from other EVs in its time.

“These Tesla cars were very special when owning them was seen as progressive. It was more of a lifestyle declaration,” Rajmohan told TechCrunch.

The co -founders brought this feeling to Ultraviolette’s design and branding for the purpose of making it a global company from day one. As Rajmohan explained, the word “violet” is pronounced in a similar way in over 30 European languages, while “Ultra” signalizes something that is groundbreaking. Reinforcing this ambition pursued start -up European certification for all its vehicles, even before coming to the market.

This is unlike other Indian electric two -wheeled manufacturers who have tried to meet local demand. India accounts for almost 40% of global motorcycle sales – although most of them are driven by internal combustion engines.

Expanding beyond India makes strategic sense of ultraviolet, given the domestic EV market, relatively sub-penetrated-with the adoption of only 7.66%compared to the global average of 16.48%, according to a recent report from government-backed think tank Niti Aayog. While India is aiming to reach 30% EV penetration by 2030, progress so far suggests that it can be an ambitious goal.

India is also a price -sensitive market where two -wheelers are typically not discretionary purchases, but important and affordable forms of daily transport. As a result, selling advanced variants in the scale of the country can be a challenge for ultraviolet-in the least originally.

“We were very clear that what we are doing is, we are working against segments that are more universal,” Rajmohan said.

What is the next?

Ultraviolet plans to expand the capacity of its Bengaluru production facility to up to 60,000 units and add a larger place in scale to approx. 300,000 units at the beginning of next year. Ultraviolette operates 20 stores over 20 Indian cities and plans to grow to about 100 by March next year. About 50 of these stores – one per. City – Expected to open by the festive season later in the year.

Rajmohan told TechCrunch that start -up is working to expand its European presence, where it has 40 dealers.

“Next year is where the upscaling is happening in Europe,” he said.

The start -up also plans to start his pilot in Latin America and Southeast Asia next year and go to markets including the US and Japan later.

Ultraviolette has sold more than 3,000 motorcycles in India and expected to sell up to 10,000 later in the year. It has also targeted over $ 50 million in revenue at the end of this financial year.

The new financing saw participation from Ultraviolette’s existing investors Zoho Corporation and Lingotto (formerly Exor Capital). So far, it has collected about $ 75 million in financing and counts Qualcomm Ventures, Exor and TV’s engine among its other key investors.