For now, we’re riding the growth wave of quick commerce: Yulu CEO Amit Gupta

Yulu, a pioneer in the Low-Speed Electric Vehicles (LSEVs) segment in India, has gained attention in recent years for its electric bikes, which serve primarily for short-distance and intra-city use.

The small blue bikes parked on Bengaluru’s roads, which is one of Yulu’s primary markets, are usually driven around to deliver groceries and food orders.

During the pandemic, the company began to see a new customer segment—the gig workers. Today, Yulu sees 85-90% of its revenue coming from Yulu DeX—which is tailored for gig workers and does not require a driving licence; and Yulu Miracle, which are used for personal commute. 

Now, as it looks to enter new cities, Yulu is realigning its product offerings. Going forward, the company is doubling down on the growth in the last-mile delivery segment with a new product crafted for ecommerce deliveries. These vehicles are not low speed and they require driving licenses, and can be used to deliver bigger parcels over longer distances as well.

Additionally, you will not see them docked on roadsides. They can be collected from Yulu hubs and would have to be deposited back once used. 

In an interaction with YourStory, Amit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Yulu, details out the company’s new product offerings, focus areas, and how Yulu is planning to take advantage of the growing demands of the delivery sector. 

Edited excerpts from the interview: 

YourStory [YS]: You are going to introduce a new EV scooter for ecommerce deliveries and last-mile mobility. Can you help us understand the product and how you see it boosting the company’s market share?

Amit Gupta [AG]: Creating our business around low-speed vehicles was a strategic choice. It wasn’t easy since no suitable product existed in the market—either they were illegal or of poor quality. We identified an opportunity to build this category using a product and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partnership within India.

Our business has grown rapidly, especially in quick commerce, where vehicle speed doesn’t matter. We’ve also seen use cases beyond quick commerce, like ecommerce deliveries where heavy loads need to be carried.

Recognising this, we developed a new product similar to Yulu DeX, called Yulu Express. It is designed for use cases beyond quick commerce, with a top speed of 45 km/h and a range of 140–150 km. It features a swappable lithium-ion battery and purpose-built design, making it distinct from vehicles like Ather or Chetak. We’ll announce the launch soon.

YS: How are you differentiating the new line of product from your existing one—DeX and Miracle?

AG: There’s no dedicated dock since we will be operating on a model similar to car rentals like Avis or Hertz. Riders pick up a bike, use it, and return it when done.

We’ve established numerous hubs—Bengaluru alone has 30 to 35, with one or two in every pin code, based on population density. 

Riders can pick up bikes from these hubs and return them when they visit their hometown or when the bike is no longer needed. Importantly, bikes aren’t left in random locations. Riders can keep them at home at night.

The grey bikes you see on the road operate differently from the blue bikes used by office commuters. This new grey bike model is an extension of Yulu DeX. 

YS: How much of your current revenue comes from Yulu Miracle and Yulu DeX?

AG: Our fleet includes about 6,000 Yulu Miracle vehicles and 45,000–46,000 Yulu DeX vehicles. Yulu DeX generates 85–90% of our revenue, with Yulu Miracle contributing the rest. This split is expected to remain stable with minor changes.

Our goods mobility business is the primary growth driver, driven by strong product-market fit in quick commerce, which is scaling rapidly. We are prioritising bike deployment for quick commerce over office commutes. Consequently, we are not introducing blue Miracle bikes in new cities. For example, Hyderabad focuses solely on goods mobility, with no blue bikes. In new cities like Chennai (hypothetically), we will initially launch only commercial-use vehicles, and considering blue bikes later.

Production of blue bikes continues, but they are added only to existing markets—Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru—at 500–1,000 bikes per month. For Yulu DeX, we are scaling faster, adding 3,000–4,000 vehicles monthly.

YS: How has the demand response to your personal vehicle product Wynn been like?

AG: We’ve received strong interest for our vehicles, prompting the launch of a pilot programme called Yulu Wynn. Under this model, customers can purchase a scooter and rely on Yuma stations for battery swapping. The pilot was limited to a few hundred vehicles in two Bengaluru pin codes to ensure network density and gather operational insights.

Through this pilot, we learned valuable lessons about consumer behaviour, particularly the demand for home chargers. Many buyers compared us to other EV brands offering home charging and questioned why they had to rely solely on swapping stations. In response, we developed a home charger, now bundled with the scooter. The battery remains in a “battery-as-a-service” model, similar to MG’s Windsor EV, where users pay per kilometer. 

To scale this model, we need more customer touchpoints. Currently, most sales happen online, but potential buyers often want a test ride. This requires investments in service stations, showrooms, and support infrastructure.

However, our focus and resources are fully aligned with our commercial use case—Yulu DeX. Wynn and Miracle are lower priorities, and Wynn requires significant investment. For now, we’re riding the growth wave of quick commerce. We’ll revisit Wynn and its expansion next year, once we’re ready to allocate the necessary resources.

YS: As competition and demand within this ecosystem rises, how do you cope with the rising challenges and stay ahead of the curve?

AG: To be honest, we’re avoiding challenges that don’t align with our current priorities. Opening new showrooms for Yulu Wynn isn’t difficult—it just isn’t where we want to allocate corporate bandwidth or funds right now.

Our real focus is scaling to meet the exploding demand for bikes in the quick commerce ecosystem. With everyone opening dark stores, the need for bikes is surging. Our challenge is scaling rapidly while maintaining financial health.

Scalability isn’t an issue. Our technology can handle hundreds of thousands of vehicles without modification, and our manufacturing partners, like Bajaj, can easily ramp up production from 3,000 to 10,000 vehicles per month.

We’ve spent the past six months building stable products, reliable technology, and well-defined customer segments. Even policy changes don’t affect us as our vehicles are non-registered and don’t rely on subsidies.

New vehicle classes bring challenges like road safety, driver licenses, and traffic violations. While we ensure helmets at delivery, post-delivery compliance cannot be controlled and requires maturity.

Looking ahead, the constant need is capital to fuel growth. Raising funds isn’t a major hurdle given our strong performance and inbound interest from institutional VCs, but it takes time and comes with expectations.

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YS: Could you expand a bit on pilot programmes that you are running and what is next for Yulu?

AG: We are researching a pilot where the idea is to reward long-term users with a loyalty programme. Imagine accruing points over time—these points have value. Once a user accumulates enough points, they can redeem them to own a bike.

However, unlike leasing a car, where the same vehicle stays with you, our bikes rotate between users. A single customer might use 20 different bikes over two years due for maintenance or operational needs. Therefore, we don’t assign a specific bike for ownership, but instead offer a pool of bikes that are no longer part of our active network—typically two to two-and-a-half years old.

Users can use their earned points to purchase one of these bikes. After ownership, they can choose additional options, such as a maintenance package, and decide how to manage charging. 

YS: Yulu turned EBITDA positive recently. When do you see the company turn profitable, and what comes after that?

AG: From a business plan perspective, we aim to achieve profitable sometime in 2026. After reaching profitability, the focus will shift to preparing for an IPO.

Going public makes sense only after achieving both profitability and a significant revenue scale. Currently, we’re operating at a run rate of over $30 million ARR. To be attractive to mutual funds and institutional investors, we need to grow this to $125–150 million ARR.

The strategy is to time the IPO as we approach that revenue range, ensuring the company is positioned as a solid investment. Realistically, this aligns with a two- to three-year horizon.

YS: Could you elaborate about your market expansion strategies?

AG: We currently have a two-pronged go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

The first one involves running operations directly in key cities. Under this model, we are present in four cities—Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. While some marketing materials mention 13 cities, these primarily refer to specific zones like Noida and Ghaziabad within NCR. Technically, our direct presence spans four major cities.

The second approach is our franchise model, where we partner with entrepreneurs and businesses in Tier II cities. These Yulu business partners purchase assets and operate using Yulu’s technology and playbook. This model is live in six cities, including Kochi, Indore, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Vadodara, and a smaller town in Tamil Nadu.

Looking ahead, we plan to expand to two or three more cities by December 2025 under the direct operations model. Meanwhile, the franchise model is expected to grow significantly, taking the total number of cities to 25–30, either through direct operations or partnerships.