Simple Energy looks to raise $30-40 million as it launches its long-range scooter yet
The funds will largely be from international backers and existing investors, in what could be its first round with institutional participation, chief executive Suhas Rajkumar told Mint.The Simple Ultra scooter, launched on Monday, has a claimed range of 400 km.
Electric two-wheeler maker Simple Energy plans to raise $30-40 million in fresh capital, largely from international backers and existing investors, in what could be its first round with institutional participation, chief executive Suhas Rajkumar told Mint. So far, the company has raised capital mainly from family offices and high net-worth individuals rather than venture capital funds.
The fresh funds will be used to increase production capacity and support a second manufacturing plant as the Bengaluru-based company rolls out its Gen 2 Simple One range of scooters and the long-range Simple Ultra scooter, which according to the company has clocked 400 km in the Indian Driving Cycle (IDC), a standardized lab test by the Automotive Research Association of India.
“We plan to close a fresh round of $30-40 million this year, which will have a mix of equity and debt, and have been talking to institutional investors, mostly international ones," Rajkumar said.
Simple Energy has also held discussions with domestic private equity and venture capital investors, but has so far struggled to convert that interest into large cheques, Rajkumar said. “Institutions don’t want to choose us… maybe because their thesis of investment is different," he said, adding that the company is open to institutional capital as it gets closer to its IPO. The company is preparing for a public offering in Q2 or Q3 of FY27, and is looking to raise about $350 million.
To date, Simple Energy has raised $51 million from investors such as Dr Arokiaswamy Velumani’s family office, Balamurugan Arumugam, the Haran family office, the Desai family office (promoters of Apar Industries), and the Vasavi family office.
Range refresh
On Monday the company launched Gen 2 versions of its Simple One and Simple OneS scooters, and introduced Simple Ultra, pitching it as its longest-range model yet. It is powered by a 6.5 kWh battery pack, offering a top speed of 115 kmph and 0-40 kmph acceleration in 2.77 seconds, the company said.
The Simple One Gen 2 will have two variants: a 4.5 kWh version with a 236 km range on the IDC test, and a 5 kWh version with a 265 km range, the company said. The 4.5 kWh variant delivers peak power of 6.4 kW, while the 5 kWh variant delivers peak power of 8.8 kW.
The Simple OneS Gen 2 comes with a 3.7 kWh battery, a 190 km IDC range, and peak power of 6.5 kW.
Rajkumar said retail registrations for the company’s Gen 1.5 scooters stood at about 650 in December, down from about 800 in November and about 1,100 in October. The Gen 1.5 version is Simple Energy’s earlier Simple One scooter, launched in 2023, which is sold as a premium model in the range of ₹1.4-1.7 lakh (ex-showroom).
While Simple Energy said the new Simple Ultra offers a 400 km range without major changes to the scooter’s base platform, Rajkumar clarified that this was in test conditions and that real-world range was typically “20-25%" lower than the IDC figure.
He also said the scooters use a nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery pack, which relies on passive cooling. The two most common lithium-ion chemistries in the Indian two-wheeler EV market are nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP), each of which come with different trade-offs on energy density, cost and thermal behaviour.
Cell constraints
He added that the company’s manufacturing facility is in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, currently has capacity of about 5,000 scooters, with scope to scale further, even as it plans a second factory. He said the future funding will be used for stabilising supply chains and working capital as the company tries to ramp up production, but noted that cells remained a key constraint.
“We are only fulfilling about 50-60% of our current demand because the stabilisation of the supply chain takes time," Rajkumar said, adding that battery cells “will always be the biggest" imported component, and a key bottleneck to scaling production.
He also said the company was dealing with the cash intensity typical of a vehicle business, with inventory and India’s inverted GST structure adding to working-capital pressure. “Whatever fundraisers we will do from here will be largely for working capital. About 80% of our funding goes to working capital," Rajkumar said.
The company aims to have about 150 offline stores by March, after growing its retail footprint from 10 outlets in January 2025 to about 80 as of today, he added.
Legacy players in the lead
Simple Energy’s push comes as India’s electric scooter market has tilted towards legacy manufacturers, owing to their wider dealer networks and rising customer concerns around Ola Electric, the former market leader.
Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor together had a 52.1% market share in 2025, up from about 36% in 2024 as Bajaj’s registrations rose 81% to 348,000 units and TVS’s rose 46% to 319,000 units, startup news platform Inc42 reported, citing the latest Vahan data.
The report added that Ola Electric, which led the market in 2024 with a 35.5% share, saw its share fall to a little over 15% in 2025 as registrations slid more than 51% to 199,000 units, mainly due to customer complaints about vehicles and after-sales service. Ather Energy overtook Ola Electric in 2025, with registrations rising nearly 60% to 200,000 units as of January 2026.
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