Etrio raises $3 million in series A to launch new EV product lines

Hyderabad based retrofitted e-LCV firm Etrio raised $3 million in Series A round from HNI investors based out of Singapore. The group of investors is led by serial investor, Janardhan Rao, founder of Triumph Global Group, a Singapore head-quartered company.

The investment will fuel the company’s foray into new electric vehicles in three wheelers and bicycle product lines. The company aims to focus on customer acquisition across both B2B and consumer segments, said the company.

Touro, Etrio's three-wheeler brand is scheduled for market launch in October 2020. It will have two variants Touro Mini and Max across both cargo and passenger segments.

The cargo variant is currently undergoing pilot testing with leading e-commerce and logistics players and has already been booked for around 500 units. Stepping into the electric bicycle segment, Etrio will also introduce the Ashva and iSwitch e-bike lines in the coming months.

The company plans to scale up aggressively by deploying its electric range of vehicles through a mix of sales and leasing options.

Etrio will also use this fresh principal to fuel its go-to-market strategy, set up sales & service networks across select cities, and hire key personnel over the next 6-9 months.

Deepak MV, Co-founder & CEO, Etrio said, “With over a year of extensive work, we finally make our big transition from retrofitment to creation of new electric vehicles. We will continue to evolve as an EV OEM bringing reliable products based on superior vehicle architecture, efficient system integration, robust design, and connected systems to drive mass adoption of EVs in India."

With this funding, the company will strengthen its product portfolio to target B2B logistics platforms for growth with diverse product offerings and more geographical presence.

The company has dedicated vehicle manufacturing and assembly set-up spread across 20,000 sqft at Hyderabad and is in the process of achieving 100% localisation of the supply chain by the end of the FY21.

This series A investment constitutes the first part of fundraising for the company and the company plans to raise an additional round in early FY22 towards investments for R&D for new product development, in-house manufacturing of key electric components and production capacity ramp-up.

Founded in 2017, Etrio has a portfolio with EVs across payloads ranging from 70 kg to 700 kg.