Three Wheels United raises $10 Million as a part of Series A funding

Bengaluru : Three Wheels United (TWU), a global fintech company for EV 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 from Delta Corp Holdings with participation from existing investor Techstars. 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, to enhance TWU’s technology platform, and to grow their customer base.

Three Wheels United has previously raised funding from Asian Development Bank Ventures, Techstars, Microsoft, and investors from the Middle East, Europe, and US.

Three Wheels United provides affordable financing solutions for drivers to easily make the switch from conventional vehicles to EV two and three-wheelers. Founded by Cedrick Tandong, Kevin Wervenbos, and Apurv Mehra in 2017, the company has been steadfastly working towards removing financial barriers in the adoption of EVs in India and now globally.

Three Wheels United(TWU) was founded with an aim to address the key impediments in the large-scale penetration of EV three-wheelers in India. The company has developed a disruptive 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. Because of its platform, micro entrepreneurs can get a fair interest rate and loans covering up to 100% 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.

Cedrick Tandong, CEO and Co-Founder, Three Wheels United, said, “Three Wheels United was founded with a belief that technology can accelerate our efforts towards promoting sustainable last-mile connectivity. Over the last several years of working in the EV ecosystem, we have gathered deep insights into some of the barriers to mass adoption of EVs. The lack of affordable financing continues to be a key obstacle for low-income clients to switch to EVs. We have identified these challenges and we have created a scalable solution that is tailored for our clients”

“We are pleased with the further validation of our business model. 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. TWU has long-lasting partnerships with leading OEMs, aggregator platforms, battery swapping and charging operators, tech giants and other related infrastructure service providers.”, Cedrick added.

Mudit Paliwal, CEO, Delta Corp Holdings, said, “We believe Three Wheels United is addressing a significant need in the EV ecosystem. To accomplish a large-scale EV shift, access to easy financing is a critical element. In Three Wheels United, we found a team that was passionate about the space but deeply strategic about the business. With their deep understanding of financing needs of low-income clients and through the use of innovative technology, they have built a highly profitable and scalable business model that can allow millions of micro entrepreneurs to make the EV shift.”

We are excited to be investing in Three Wheels United. The team has shown great commitment over the last several years in enabling micro entrepreneurs to switch to cleaner and more economically viable last-mile alternatives. TWU has taken an inclusive and unique ecosystem approach towards their goal of reducing the climate impact of the transportation sector” Mudit added

Delta Corp Holdings is a global logistics and distribution company headquartered in the UK. Last year, Delta Corp acquired Quantship, an AI driven freight analytics startup which was part of Entrepreneur First Singapore cohort 2019.

UAE based Neo Capital Ventures was the exclusive financial advisor on the deal to TWU alongside investing in the current round.

Vijay Tirathrai, Managing Director, Techstars, said, “Having been a part of TWU’s growth story for the last several years, we have seen the team successfully navigate challenges and emerge as a leading financier for light electric vehicles. We are happy to be supporting the team in their mission to improve livelihoods of auto-rickshaw drivers and reduce air pollution”

Three Wheels United 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 1,72,000+ tonnes of CO2 emissions, and the generation of an extra $71M in income for the drivers.