Bengaluru-based clean mobility start-up Micelio Mobility plans to complete the deployment of the ₹150 crore ($20 million) fund in the next 4-5 years through its investing arm, Micelio Fund, says Shreyas Shibulal, founder of the company.
With its funding arm, it primarily focuses on pre-seed to Series A investments in early-stage start-ups across the clean mobility spectrum, including OEMs, infrastructure providers, component suppliers, and service providers with the investment ranging anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million.
“We made our first investment three years ago and have currently deployed 30-40 per cent of the fund across nine startups, such as Cell Propulsion, Sheru, RaceEnergy, ElectricPe, and eplane.ai,” said Shibulal. In addition, he emphasised that while selecting a start-up, they evaluate teams for complementary skills, the size of the market they target, and the degree of localisation in their approach.
Speaking to businessline on the sidelines of the second edition of its Global Clean Mobility Summit, Shibulal said this year the event will bring together over 300 people, including innovators, investors, and officials, to foster innovation and sustainability in the transportation sector. One of the key announcements at the event will be the launch of Honda e:SWAP’s unique ecosystem.
Honda Power Pack Energy India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., launched its cutting-edge battery exchanger and announced strategic alliances with industry leaders. Along with the battery swapping system, the company will present for the first time their new partnership with 3W and 2W OEMs at the summit.
Four verticals
Micelio Mobility runs four verticals: Micelio Fund, which serves as the investing arm for start-ups in this sector; Micelio Discovery Studio, which is a testing and validation facility for EV components and subsystems for other players in the ecosystem; Micelio Pulse, which organises stakeholder workshops and funds research; and Micelio Community, which comprises a community and helps tackle issues of the entire ecosystem.
In addition, the founder also runs two separate entities: Lightning Logistics (now called Entoo), which offers last-mile delivery services with its own EV fleet, and the product company, which is developing its first two-wheeler electric vehicle with an eye on cargo logistics.
Speaking about its last-mile logistics service provider, which is currently present in five markets and has a fleet of over 5,000 EVs, he said the focus will be on growing in the current markets as well as other areas such as running small warehouses. It also intends to continue its focus on profitability to consolidate.
With regard to its 2WEV, the company is targeting those who are looking to acquire large numbers of EVs as a fleet and is also considering export. “We expect to take the product to market by the next calendar year,” he said.