Essel Green Mobility Limited commits Rs 300 Crs investment in electric mobility; backs ZipGo to build electric bus mobility

August 8, 2018: Essel Infraprojects Ltd (EIL), an enterprise of Shri Subhash Chandra led Essel Group has agreed to invest approximately INR300 Crore through its Electric Vehicle arm, Essel Green Mobility Limited (EGM)in ZipGo, an app based provider of intra-city and inter-city bus service.

The investment is in line with EIL’s foray into electric vehicle segment last month. EIL launched its Electric Vehicle Charging and Battery Swapping Infrastructure initiative under Essel Green Mobility Limited in Lucknow on July 29.Under the project, EGM is going to invest Rs 1750 crore in phased manner with the launch of 250 charging stations, 1000 battery swapping stations in 20 cities of UP. The announcement was made during the foundation stone laying ceremony by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lucknow.

Mr. Ashok Agarwal, CEO– New Initiatives, Essel Infraprojects Limited, said “In February, 2018, Essel Infra had announced our entry into electric mobility space under Essel Green Mobility Limited with an investment commitment of Rs 4,250 Crores. Last week we started setting up electric charging stations and battery swapping terminals across 20 cities of Uttar Pradesh at an investment of Rs. 1,750 Crores. The investment in ZipGo from Essel Green Mobility Limited is a continuation of our commitment to further accelerate the adoption of EV technology in India. .”

Jitender Sharma, Co-founder & CEO of ZipGo, stated, “We are honoured to humbled to receive this investment from one of the most prominent conglomerates in India, the Rs. 200,000 Crores Zee and Essel Group. Dr. Subhash Chandra is one of the most eminent and successful entrepreneurs of our times, with many firsts to his name, including, India’s first satellite TV channel, Zee TV. We are excited to be working with him and learning from his experiences. Urban mass transport is a huge infrastructure gap in India. This significant investment is a recognition of this massive opportunity. More importantly, Essel Group has vast experience in building and operating multi-billion dollar, world-class infrastructure across the country. Hence, this investment, along with the support of the Essel Group, will now allow ZipGo to accelerate its growth, with a clear focus on green mobility, and successfully navigate the operational challenges of building a pan-India mass-transportation business.”

Pritesh Gupta, Co-founder & COO of ZipGo, stated, “We started ZipGo to provide a smart commute option for the 99% of working Indians who can’t afford to take a taxi to work everyday. This investment will be used to transition to a fleet of 100% electric buses, expand our fleet and routes network in existing cities and starting operations in new cities. Additionally, we will also be launching e-rickshaws later this year. With this investment, we will also be able to go beyond Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities and start operations in smaller cities such as Udaipur, Indore, Bhubaneswar,

Mangalore, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam among others. With e-rickshaws and electric buses on a common platform, we will be able to truly provide mobility for a billion Indians.”

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder & CTO, stated, “From Day 1 we have focussed on building a scalable technology infrastructure. We already have the best-rated consumer app in the business which is backed by an exceptional engineering team. This investment will allow us to continue to innovate to maintain our market leading products and further increase our investment in machine-learning and data analytics. We will also be adding e-ricks to the ZipGo platforms. Additionally, since we will be launching in several new states, and addressing new customer segments, we will also be adding Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi, to the ZipGo platform.”

ZipGo was launched by Jitender Sharma, Gaurav Agarwal and Pritesh Gupta after raising a US$3 million seed investment in July 2015 from RehanYar Khan led Orios Ventures. ZipGo started intra-city bus operations in Bangalore in August 2015, and currently provides intra-city and inter-city bus services, for individuals and corporates, from its regional hubs in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. ZipGo had raised US$6 million Series A investment, co-led by Ventureast and Omidyar Networks, in December 2016.