Baaz Bikes announced a fresh fundraising of $8 million from Singapore-based Big Capital. The round saw the participation of existing investors such as Kalaari Capital and 9Unicorns as well as investors such as Rakunten Capital, an arm of Japan-based Rakuten Group, the company said.
Baaz Bikes, based in New Delhi, operates electric scooters and a system called Baaz Swap for automatic battery swapping. The start-up, founded by IIT Delhi alumni Anubhav Sharma, Abhijeet Saxena, Karan Singla, and Shubham Srivastava, manages charging and subscription leases for scooters and batteries.
The funds raised will be used to improve product offerings, focusing on safety and scalability in the gig economy.
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Baaz Bikes charges gig workers (who deliver for platforms like Zomato and Swiggy) Rs 5,000 per month per scooter, covering multiple battery swaps.
Currently operating in South Delhi, the company plans to expand across the National Capital Region with over 500 drivers and 30 swapping stations.
Co-founder of the start-up Anubhav Sharma said that they intend to expand the operations beyond the subscription model. The start-up now operating in only South Delhi plans to expand further in other parts of Delhi.
In the coming year they are expecting the services in entire parts of the national capital he added.
The company aims to increase its coverage from 50 pin codes to 500 pin codes in Delhi NCR over the next 9-12 months, according to Sharma.
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Baaz Bikes operates a manufacturing facility in Faridabad that produces 1,000 electric scooters daily. The company, currently serving food and e-commerce delivery services such as Zomato, Zepto, and Amazon, also has plans to introduce electric vehicles specifically designed for bike-taxis.