IAN Fund empowers connected shared mobility in India; invests Rs 15 cr in e-scooter

New Delhi: Underscoring its mission of advancing India’s progress by supporting sustainability-focused start-ups, IAN Fund the sebi registered 375 crore fund, invests in Zypp. Based out of Gurgaon, Zypp (earlier Mobycy) is India’s first fully-electric connected shared two-wheeler mobility company delivering services including last-mile connectivity, delivery, enterprise commute, etc. through its fleet of IoT-enabled e-scooters. IAN Fund led the Pre Series-A round with prominent IAN members also participating.

Following the capital infusion, the company rebranded to Zypp, with the focused mission of leveraging its fleet of IoT-powered electric scooters to make commute convenient, affordable, and eco-friendly. Users can access the services to fulfill their daily micro-mobility needs within a range of 5 kilometers using the eponymous app, Zypp. The mobile application unlocks the two-wheelers by scanning the QR code. This tech-driven facility allows users to park the e-scooters at various geo-fenced locations.

Incorporated in August 2017, the company has been strengthening last-mile mobility in India, under the robust leadership of Akash Gupta, an MBA from IMT Ghaziabad, Shivraj Singh, an IIM Calcutta graduate, and Rashi Agarwal, a prolific entrepreneur. The founding team and the 50-plus employees at Mobycy carry a collective experience of over 50 years having previously worked in top Indian as well as global MNCs and start-ups. These include Snapdeal, Chaayos, Ecom, Airtel, and MobiKwik, among others.

“If there is one word which perfectly describes modern-age cities, it is busy,” Akash Gupta – Co-founder and CEO, Zypp (earlier Mobycy) said. “People are busy with their lives, working professionals are busy commuting, the roads are busy with traffic, and the air with pollution. Through Zypp, we aim to relieve the stress on professionals, their budget, roads, and the air – all at once, thereby unlocking freedom for millions! Our mission is to offer the new-age working professionals with affordable, convenient, and eco-friendly connected and shared two-wheeler mobility solutions solving urban commute. This is a first-of-its-kind fully electric venture in India.”

Rashi Agarwal - Cofounder of Zypp added, “We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from various investors, especially Indian Angel Network Fund. The funding has come as a pat on the back for us and the fact that they believe in our vision further motivates us to raise the bar even higher. The best part of IAN fund is the mentorship we get as a start-up to grow with all their experience and connections from their network. We will leverage the capital to scale by strengthening the fleet with 5000 e-scooters within the next few months. We are also looking to expand our geographical footprint across NCR along with 5 other Indian cities, and then to South East Asia and Europe in the coming years. The plan is to have 20,000 scooters on the road by end of 2020.”

The Indian electric mobility landscape is primed for disruption with both public and private players working in synergy to establish the required infrastructure and empower the service providers in this space. The Government is committed to investing USD 1.4 trillion in developing EV infrastructure in the next five years. Astride these developments, market research estimates the Indian electric mobility domain to be valued at USD 5.2 billion. The company, on the back of its innovative service offering, is well-equipped to capture the lion’s share of the high-value market.

Speaking on the investment, Padmaja Ruparel – Founding Partner at IAN Fund commented, “Zypp’s mission of bolstering the electric connected shared mobility space focused on the last mile connectivity in India, falls in line with the overarching vision of IAN Fund. It is to lead India to become a major sustainability-led economy by empowering innovation-focused start-ups operating in new-age sectors such as cleantech, electric mobility, agritech, healthtech, advanced technologies, etc. The brand’s disruptive value proposition along with the founding team’s dedication and ambition are what attracted us to invest in the enterprise. We wish them continued success.”

Working professionals in urban cities who engage in daily last-mile commute comprise the major part of the demographic that Zypp is servicing. In addition, it also caters to the B2B players such as e-commerce platforms, food delivery companies, closed campuses – including hotels, resorts, township, airport, tech parts, etc. – and enterprises in need of last-mile mobility, among others.

The company runs on an asset-light model to fund scooters and uses scooters indigenously made by Indian electric manufacturers.