The upcoming generation is quite conscious of the environment and is working hard to create a sustainable planet. Eco-friendly products, recycling, sustainable living, and contributing your bit to nature are a few terms that resonate with today’s youth. Many startups are building a future that creates a positive social impact. One such budding startup is Yulu Bikes – a technology-driven mobility platform that enables Integrated Urban Mobility across public and private modes of transport. It offers shared, sustainable and seamless transport through the use of a mobile-friendly app. Let us understand more about its business model.
About Yulu Bikes
A tech mobility platform called Yulu enables Integrated Urban Mobility using public and private transportation modes. Yulu offers seamless, shared, and climate-resilient first and last-mile connectivity using Micro Mobility Vehicles (MMV) via a user-friendly mobile app. The Yulu platform uses a standard information model, is straightforward, reliable, and scalable, and supports numerous vehicles.
Yulu creates a seamless experience through a user-friendly app by combining IoT, machine learning & AI, and cloud computing. Their dockless vehicles can be rented smoothly on a pay-per-use basis thanks to IoT, which serves as the foundation of the business. The iOS or Android apps allow users to schedule rides, and QR codes can be used to unlock smart bikes.
The latest innovation in these shared bikes is the electric version. The ‘Yulu Miracle’ is an easy-to-operate, battery-operated electric small 2-wheeler that brings the company at par with the electric bike manufacturers in the country. The Yulu bikes have a maximum speed of 25kmph and hence do not require helmets or a driving license. These vehicles are encouraging commuters to choose eco-friendly riding options at affordable prices and reduce their carbon footprints.
Yulu currently imports electric scooter kits from China and assembles them in India. Yulu stated that it in the near future it would produce 100,000 Miracle bikes at the Bajaj Auto Chetak plant in Pune, Maharashtra. This will aid Yulu in lowering the price.
Yulu’s team is motivated by three urban mobility guiding principles: accessibility, availability, and affordability. Making urban commutes effective and environmentally friendly enables Indian city dwellers to bring about a fundamental change.
Yulu has the vision to do something that creates a bigger impact on society. They wanted to deal with major issues like air pollution, Traffic congestion, and such others that affected our nature. With this concept in mind, they built Yulu – a tech-driven platform that solves urban mobility problems and addresses air pollution and traffic congestion as well.
It is the only business in the nation using interchangeable battery systems for EVs in the micro-mobility market. They have started a journey with numerous hardware innovations, including developing novel battery charging stations, different ML/AI models, IoT devices, etc.
Founders
Hemant Gupta, Amit Gupta, RK Misra & Naveen Dachuri are the Founders of Yulu. Amit, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, received the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award from the college. Before starting Yulu, he co-founded the billion-dollar startup InMobi which created immense value for Telecom Operators and Smartphone manufacturers.
RK Misra, the President at Ecosystem Partnerships, Yulu, has a very impressive background. He is the mastermind behind the successful companies – Tenet Technologies and Traveljini, both now sold to different entrepreneurs. He has also worked with several organizations, including Carnegie India, SAHYOG, Center for Smart Cities, and many others.
Interesting Concept Behind the Name
Yulu means ‘Simple’ in the Chinese language. The team at Yulu found this name very catchy and apt for their simple-to-use bikes.
Funding
Yulu will purchase electric two-wheelers from Bajaj after receiving funding from the company. Exclusively for shared micro-mobility, the vehicles will be co-designed and produced. Furthermore, Bajaj said in a statement that it would also take into account meeting Yulu’s needs for vehicle financing in order to deploy its micro-mobility electric vehicles widely.
Revenue
The Yulu platform uses a pay-per-use business model; a new user must download the app and register with a refundable security deposit. A refundable 250-rupee deposit is required for the Yulu MOVE + Yulu MIRACLE plan.
A Yulu can be ridden for a very low cost. The initial cost of using a Yulu Miracle is Rs. 10, and an additional Rs. 10 is charged after every 10 minutes of use. For the first 30 minutes of use on Yulu Move, users pay Rs 10, and for each additional 30 minutes, they pay Rs 5.
In addition, for an additional fee, the journey can be stopped anywhere and the car left overnight. Exclusive mobility solutions for corporations are also part of their business model.
In India, Yulu has the largest fleet of bicycles or e-bikes, with 10,000 bicycles (known as Yulu Move) and nearly 5000 e-bikes (known as Yulu Miracles). Present in Bengaluru, New Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Pune, and Bhubaneswar, Yulu has 1.5 million registered users as of this writing.
During FY20, the company expects to generate an operating income of Rs 9.12 crore on an annualized basis. Operating revenue for the business in FY19 was Rs 85 lakhs.
12,000–13,000 of Yulu’s 30,000–35,00 daily rides, of which 12,000–13,000 are on electric scooters, are claimed to be made. Along with them, the world’s largest ride-hailing company, Uber, has partnered to create an eco-friendly and effective urban commute.
Awards and Accolades
Yulu has achieved the following crowns to it’s feather –
- Emerging startup of the year by Entrepreneur India.
- Coolest start-up of the Year by Business Today.
- Most Innovative Startup by Inc42.
- Cypher – Great Learning Data Science Awards 2019 for AI implementation in mobility.
Challenges Faced by the Startup
The founders of Yulu experienced two major problems while launching Yulu bikes in India:
- Changing the mindset of the people. People in India are so used to traveling in vehicles using petrol, diesel or other forms of fossil fuel, that bringing their mindset to the shared vehicle concept required a lot of time and effort.
- Changing the mindset of the people to think collectively for the ecosystem. This trend has gone down a bit after 3 years of Yulu’s launch, thanks to big CEOs setting examples by using shared bikes or EVs for their transportation.
Future Plans
Yulu aspires to run its services in all Tier 1 cities in the near future. It also wants to offer its services in Smart cities in India. It envisions increasing its fleet size to 1 million electric two-wheelers by the end of 2022.
Final Thoughts
For citizens’ first and last-mile commute options, Yulu offers an affordable and scalable UMaaS (Urban Mobility as a Service) that is environmentally friendly. For Indian climatic and road conditions, their vehicles are built for shared micro-mobility.
Yulu is a company that is centered on technology because they use cutting-edge vehicles to use technology to solve challenging urban mobility issues. They have created ML/AI models powered by data from users and IoT devices as a result of their belief in data-driven business, which aims to improve user experience and boost operational effectiveness.
Their ideal concept has encouraged many angel investors to invest in their project, the result of which has led to the success of this company. Hopefully, in the near future, a majority of our urban commute gets dependent on such vehicles, thereby reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.
