Commercial EV startup Turno raises USD 3.1 million

New Delhi: Commercial electric vehicle (EV) startup Turno announced on Wednesday that it has raised USD 3.1 million in new equity financing. The investment was led by Stellaris Venture Partners, along with Avaana Capital, the startup said in a release.

Launched in April 2022 in Bengaluru, Turno claims to have captured 75% market share in the retail cargo three-wheeler segment in the city and has forged partnerships with leading 3W electric OEMs like Mahindra, Piaggio, Omega Seiki Mobility, Etrio and others. At the current rate of growth, it expects to be the largest seller of electric vehicles in the country by August 2022.

Today, Cargo EVs are economically viable for a majority of use cases. But the retail segment, which continues to spend over 40% of the monthly earnings on diesel, has so far remained on the sidelines of the EV story.

These customers have multiple unaddressed pain points like lack of trustworthy information on right EVs for their use cases, affordable financing options and a lack of clarity on resale value of EVs.

Turno also claims to lower the overall cost of ownership by 50% through its vast selection of vehicles at the lowest prices, lowest down payments and interest rates, and 30% higher than market resale value guarantees to customers. Its customers come from a diverse use case-mix including small FMCG distributors, vegetable & fruit sellers, manufacturing units, garment distributors, water can suppliers among others.

“At Turno, we envision the future of Indian transportation to be completely electric with zero dependence on fossil fuels. Today, commercial vehicles constitute about 80%-85% of the entire fuel consumption in the country and our mission is to replace all diesel miles in commercial vehicles with electric miles. We are excited to have investors, who are among the few to understand the nuances of EV investments and share our deep passion for accelerating India’s transition to green mobility," Hemanth Aluru, Co-founder and CEO Turno, said.

Currently, Turno has a team of 60 people and it has launched its operations in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, and NCR.

"In a short period, Turno has captured significant market share and enabled many small fleet owners to go electric. We are excited to partner with them, and are confident Turno will catalyze the move to electric for many more people in the years to come," Arpit Maheshwari, Stellaris Venture Partners, said.

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