Yulu - Eco-friendly commute service

Yulu stands as a prominent micro-mobility service in India, providing distinctive vehicles for everyday travel. Originating from a goal to reduce traffic congestion across the country, Yulu delivers a secure commuting option through an intuitive mobile application designed to promote eco-friendly transit.

Yulu zones are strategically situated at key locations such as metro stations, bus terminals, workplaces, residential neighborhoods, and corporate centers to facilitate seamless, cost-effective, and convenient first and last-mile journeys!

Safety is our priority, especially in these uncertain times. Our field personnel sanitize all Yulu vehicles multiple times throughout the day. They adhere to stringent safety measures by wearing masks and gloves while also frequently washing their hands. Moreover, each vehicle displays a "Last Sanitised" stamp in the app, so you can see when it was last cleaned.

We acknowledge your concerns and aim to ensure that your commute is both safe and relaxing!

Curious about how to join our initiative? It’s as simple as taking a ride with Yulu.

Begin by downloading the Yulu App and making a one-time refundable deposit. Then, find the closest Yulu Zone and unlock a Yulu by scanning the QR code for an easy and enjoyable ride!

You can easily pause your ride by clicking the "Pause" button in the app and resume it by selecting "Resume."

To finish your journey, return the vehicle to a Yulu Zone, lock it, and select "End Ride" on the app.

No driver’s license is required to ride a Yulu, but we highly encourage adhering to traffic regulations.

Highlighting Yulu's Key Features:

Smart and dockless vehicles: Fully electric automated vehicles using IoT technology.

Commitment to safety: All Yulu vehicles are regularly cleaned and sanitized with WHO-approved products to ensure a safe experience. Our staff also wears masks and gloves during vehicle handling.

Last sanitized stamp: Each Yulu features a "Last Sanitised" stamp on the app indicating the most recent disinfection.

Eco-friendly and healthy: Yulu produces zero carbon emissions, contributing to a healthier environment. Additionally, Yulu Move tracks the calories you burn to support your wellness!

Conveniently accessible: Yulu Zones are established in all essential locations, including metro stations, bus stands, workplaces, residential communities, and corporate offices.

Cost-effective: Our pricing structure is designed to be economical by charging based on rental time rather than distance traveled!

*For detailed pricing, please refer to the app

Seamless payments: All transactions are carried out digitally, allowing you to avoid fumbling for cash. We also accept international payments.

Saver packs: We offer specially curated Saver Packs to meet your commuting needs, enabling you to save more on your regular rides!

Rental options: If you require a Yulu for an extended period, you have the option to rent a vehicle for up to 30 days at a budget-friendly rate.

Cities advancing towards sustainability:

Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai

Yulu Races Past EBITDA+ Milestone, Crosses $30 Million ARR

In Pic: Yulu’s co-founders (from L-R) RK Misra, Amit Gupta, Anuj Tewari and Naveen Dachuri with Muthu Subramanian, General Manager and Managing Director of Yuma Energy (extreme right) on the occasion of announcing Yulu's EBITDA positive milestone

Yulu has always held a special place in the hearts of delivery partners, commuters, and urban explorers. Now, India’s favourite shared EV brand, Yulu has achieved yet another milestone by becoming profitable on an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) basis.

Yulu, which has crossed an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $30 million based on its September 2024 revenues, has grown its user base and revenues 7 times in the last two years. It plans to have 100,000 EVs on the roads in the next 12 months backed by a Series C fundraise of $100 million.

Just five years since it launched its first EV, Yulu has become the undisputed market leader in hyperlocal shared e-mobility. Having powered 700 million km of green rides for over 4 million users, Yulu has curbed a whopping 27 million kilos of CO2 emissions. The massive consumer shift towards ‘instant deliveries’ and Yulu's product-market fit for this category has also played a role in taking Yulu’s growth into a higher orbit. Today, Yulu has a 35-40% average share of delivery vehicles at dark stores in its operational areas!

Riding the growth wave

At the core of Yulu’s journey to EBITDA profitability is its determination to transform the mobility landscape with its tech powered, accessible, affordable, smart and sustainable EVs. Its scalable growth engine is powered by its purpose-built EVs co-developed with Bajaj Auto Ltd.; Yulu’s own AI-enabled full-stack EV platform and its full stack of proprietary technology; its partnerships with leading delivery brands, and its ready access to energy via its associate Yuma Energy. These factors have enabled Yulu to launch shared EV services for a diverse cohort of users and powered its profitable growth in recent years (see graphic below).

Yulu’s revenue growth mantras

The road to EBITDA profitability has been a complex one. Over the last few years, Yulu has assiduously pursued business and revenue growth by building a strong foundation of product, technology, operational expertise, and partnerships. Here are some of the key elements of this strategy.

1. Achieving Product-Market Fit

Yulu’s products are perfectly suited to the needs of its end-users. Its strategic partnership with the world’s premier 2-wheeler OEM and exporter, Bajaj Auto Ltd. has allowed it to develop a range of purpose-built, world-class EVs for shared mobility that merge both quality and functionality. Honed continuously over multiple iterations, these EVs are lightweight, comfortable, emit zero noise or pollution and ideally-sized to skirt dense traffic on the roads. These non motorised vehicles are also perfect for riders who don’t have a driver’s licence – such as delivery partners who cannot afford to buy vehicles or sometimes lack documents like driver’s licence.

In addition, these EVs use Yulu’s own telematics system to continuously capture and share large volumes of ride data with Yulu’s servers in real-time. This data is used to maximise vehicle availability and uptime, so that riders don’t waste precious time in searching for vehicles or battery charging stations. In the case of delivery partners, a higher uptime translates into higher earnings, while for brands it means faster and efficient deliveries to the customers.

2. Capitalising on demand from quick-commerce:

As a mobility powerhouse, Yulu is at the heart of India’s instant delivery revolution. Quick commerce, a subset of this category, is a $3.3 billion market and is forecast to grow tenfold by 2030, and Yulu has capitalised on the changing consumer preferences for instant and reliable deliveries. Quick commerce deliveries happen in short delivery radiuses and within local neighbourhoods. It’s here that Yulu's form factor and low-effort ride rentals offer convenient rides as well as lower the running costs for the delivery partners, thus improving their overall earnings. Also, Yulu has set-up dense and strategic infrastructure for picking up, dropping, and swapping vehicles and batteries, closer to the dark stores to further enhance its utility, appeal and fit for quick commerce.

3. Striking brand partnerships

Supported by Central and State-level policies to boost transport electrification and e-commerce, brands today are looking for frictionless solutions for fleet electrification and onboarding gig workers. The world-class nature of Yulu’s EVs has enabled the company to strike deep partnerships with delivery brands that are seeking frictionless solutions to electrify their fleets and onboard riders. This includes everything from collaborative GTM (go to market) strategies when opening new stores to having joint initiatives for giving new delivery riders access to EVs. Over time, these partnerships have become stronger and strategic.

Yulu also became a favourite with delivery executives due to its ability to offer 30-40% higher savings over conventional fuel vehicles. As a result, in cities served by Yulu, the company has nearly 100% coverage of all dark stores today.

4. Expanding rapidly to 12 cities and counting…

Yulu has found innovative approaches to grow its national footprint. It has expanded via organic (CoCo, i.e., company owned company operated) and FoFo (franchise owned franchise operated – with technical and knowledge support from Yulu) channels to broaden its market depth.

Today, Yulu has a presence in 11 cities, including key metros like Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Earlier this year, the company rolled out the Yulu Business Partner (YBP) initiative, a channel that has seen Yulu’s shared leisure and goods mobility services rolling out in non-metro cities like Indore, Kochi, Tirunelveli, Pondicherry and Vadodara in collaboration with local mobility companies in each individual city.

5. Access to energy infrastructure

Yulu’s growth is bolstered by its association with Yuma Energy, whose dense, safe and reliable Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) network offers users non-stop mobility with one-minute battery swaps. As Yulu rolled out its service across the country, the synchronous growth of Yuma’s BaaS network has helped it to execute its plans efficiently and seamlessly.

6. Controlling costs through technology and innovation

Frugal and sustainable growth is a stated business principle at Yulu. The company has kept its costs low through cost-conscious innovation, and avoided adopting a ‘cash burn’ policy. Key to this policy has been Yulu’s homegrown mobility tech stack which enables intelligent network growth and expansion.

This tech stack includes the following components:

-         Smart EVs that are a perfect blend of intelligence, form and function and are built for versatile use-cases and city-friendly rides.

-         A comprehensive, customer-friendly app that is easy to use and which communicates millions of distinct data points to Yulu’s systems for 24x7 customer support and enhancing rider safety. The insights derived and models built on this data also help Yulu launch industry first features like kilometre-based rentals and enterprise specific discounts, to maximise the savings of delivery riders.

-         A customised IoT platform and fleet management system powered by AI/ML which leverages custom data models and is honed over hundreds of real-world iterations.

All these elements have helped Yulu to be highly scalable while stabilising and lowering its fixed costs, like manpower, which form a major component of running an operations intensive business like shared mobility.

What the future holds

As an integral part of the delivery ecosystem, Yulu has significantly contributed to Sustainable Development Goals. It has also enabled better livelihoods for over 150,000 delivery partners – including women – and their families. These numbers will only grow multifold in the coming years.

Yulu plans to cater to more use-cases within mobility by launching a mid-speed electric two wheeler, which will be unveiled before the year-end. With a top speed of 45 kmph, the mid-speed EV will cater to additional use cases like bike taxis, ecommerce deliveries, long distances food orders and courier services, besides higher-payload goods deliveries.

Yulu will also benefit from Central and State-level policies to boost transport electrification and e-commerce. Along with this, the company aims to be in 15 cities by the end of this year, and will cater to the demand for hyperlocal deliveries in smaller cities through YBP-led rollouts.

Having navigated the journey to EBITDA profitability, Yulu now aims to be PAT (profit after tax) positive in the next two years. For more updates on Yulu’s ride towards its next milestone, stay tuned to this space :).