Three Wheels United raises $10 mn to increase financing for EV 3-wheelers

Three Wheels United (TWU), a global fintech company for EV (electric vehicle) financing, has raised $10 Million as a part of Series A Funding led by Delta Corp Holdings with participation from new and existing investors.

The current funding round is a combination of equity and debt. The round also saw participation from investors in the Middle East, Europe and from Grip Invest. The new investment will be used towards entry into new geographies in India and international markets, for strengthening operations in existing cities, enhancing TWU’s technology platform, and growing its customer base. 

TWU has previously raised funding from Asian Development Bank Ventures, Techstars, Microsoft, and investors from the Middle East, Europe, and US. It was founded by Cedrick Tandong, Kevin Wervenbos, and Apurv Mehra in 2017, with an aim to address the key impediments in the large-scale penetration of EV three-wheelers in India. The firm provides affordable financing solutions for drivers to easily make the switch from conventional vehicles to EV two and three-wheelers. 

“The lack of affordable financing continues to be a key obstacle for low-income clients to switch to EVs,” said Cedrick Tandong, CEO and co-founder, Three Wheels United. “The new investment will accelerate our next phase of growth and enable us to establish a strong foothold in the existing markets and test out other markets. We intend to launch the two-wheelers category and expand to ten more cities by the end of this year

The company has developed a platform to finance light electric vehicles. The company leverages technology to provide the most comprehensive, affordable loans, and rent-to-own options to India’s micro-entrepreneurs to help them easily switch to EV two and three-wheelers. TWU employs behaviour-informed proprietary technology to increase the accuracy of credit risk assessment and loan repayment rates, expanding access to financial products to populations that would be otherwise excluded from vehicle financing. micro-entrepreneurs can get a fair interest rate and loans covering up to 100 per cent of the cost of the vehicle without any collateral. Unlike traditional banks that collect EMIs at the end of the month in a big chunk, the platform incentivises money collection on a daily/weekly basis in small amounts. In doing so, TWU is able to tap into the finances of the drivers when the auto-rickshaw drivers actually make money and in a way that it’s aligned with the lifestyle of the drivers. 

“They have built a highly profitable and scalable business model that can allow millions of micro-entrepreneurs to make the EV shift,” said Mudit Paliwal, CEO, Delta Corp Holdings.

TWU has over 50,000 drivers on its platform, offering them various products and services. The company has financed over 4000 auto-rickshaws resulting in the reduction of over  1,72,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and the generation of an extra $71 million in income for the drivers. 

“We have seen the team successfully navigate challenges and emerge as a leading financier for light electric vehicles,” said Vijay Tirathrai, managing director, Techstars.