India's on-demand delivery sector, where apps promise groceries, medicines and even smartphones within minutes, has created an unusual side effect: a shortage of vehicles for the riders who make those deliveries. Yulu, an electric mobility startup based in Bengaluru, says it has raised $93 million to meet that demand, according to TechCrunch.
The Series C round was led by GEF Capital Partners and comprised $63 million in equity and $30 million in debt financing, TechCrunch reported. About $5.5 million of the equity was used to buy out shares from early seed investors whose funds were reaching the end of their term. People familiar with the matter told TechCrunch the deal valued Yulu at roughly $170 million after the investment.
A rental model built for gig work
Yulu does not sell electric bikes. Instead, it rents them to delivery drivers on weekly subscriptions, letting workers start earning on a delivery platform without the upfront cost of buying their own vehicle. With around 50,000 electric vehicles currently in its fleet, Yulu reports that it logs about 1.6 million miles each week and powers more than 750,000 deliveries a day.
Co-founder and chief executive Amit Gupta described the model as infrastructure for the wider delivery economy rather than a service sold directly to the platforms themselves. In comments carried by Faz Business, he compared Yulu's role to "the AWS of mobility," supplying the vehicles that let gig workers operate independently of any third-party logistics provider.
“"We ideally want this to be our last equity fundraise," Gupta told Business Today, adding that future capital needs would largely be met through debt and lease financing rather than fresh equity.”
Faster bikes for a widening market
The new funding is earmarked for two goals: quadrupling the fleet to 200,000 vehicles within two years, and introducing a faster electric scooter aimed at logistics work beyond simple food and grocery drop-offs. Business publication Outlook Business reported the new model, called Yulu Express, is a higher-payload scooter intended for e-commerce parcels, bike-taxi trips and express deliveries, and is expected to make up roughly a third of the expanded fleet.
Unlike Yulu's existing low-speed fleet, which is manufactured by Bajaj Auto, the newer high-speed scooter comes from a different, unnamed Indian manufacturer. Around 500 of the new vehicles are already running in Bengaluru and are being trialled in three further cities, Gupta told TechCrunch.
Outlook Business also reported that Yulu intends to expand its city footprint from 12 to around 20 within the next year, combining directly run operations with franchise partnerships. The company currently operates its own fleets in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad, with franchisees managing operations in eight other cities.
Profitability before an IPO
For European readers accustomed to bike-sharing schemes run by municipal authorities or transport operators, Yulu's business is closer to a leasing company than a public transit service: its customers are the individual riders, not the delivery platforms. Existing backers Bajaj Auto and Magna International did not take part in the latest round, waiving their pre-emptive rights so that GEF Capital could build its target stake, Gupta said.
The company says it has been earnings-before-interest-tax-depreciation-and-amortisation (EBITDA) positive since April 2025 and is now working toward operating profit, a milestone often watched closely by investors weighing India's crowded field of well-funded but loss-making startups. Revenue has grown sevenfold between the 2023 and 2026 financial years, Gupta said, without disclosing specific figures, according to Stockpil.
Yulu's growth mirrors the broader trajectory of India's quick-commerce sector, where rivals such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart compete to shorten delivery times, intensifying the strain on the fleets of two-wheelers that keep such promises. Gupta has signalled that the current funding round is intended to be Yulu's last equity raise before it pursues a public listing, a step that would make it one of the more closely watched exits from India's electric mobility sector.
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