4 days ago
Slow but steady: How quick commerce delivered an improbable success for Yulu
Bengaluru: In Bengaluru's bustling HSR Layout, 22-year-old Niaj Hussain waits outside a Blinkit dark store on a grey Yulu DeX, an electric bike designed for quick and short-distance deliveries. New to quick commerce, Hussain previously worked inside a dark store before realizing he could double his earnings as a rider. A petrol scooter would cost him ₹16,000 per month in fuel, whereas renting a Yulu works out to around ₹9,000 a month, including maintenance.
Hussain sets himself a daily target of at least 36 deliveries, to earn up to ₹1,500. His only complaint is that the DeX's speed is capped at 25kmph. 'That rider there did 52 deliveries in a day on his petrol bike," he says, gesturing toward a colleague. 'I can't go that fast." But, he adds, Yulu's rental plans make it an attractive proposition, especially for someone looking for a start in the gig economy without purchasing a vehicle.
Yulu operates in India's fast-growing but infrastructure-constrained rental e-bike and last-mile mobility space and has emerged as an unlikely but pivotal player in the booming quick commerce economy. It makes electric two-wheelers specifically engineered for last-mile deliveries and rents them to riders. With 45,000 bikes and 65 touchpoints, it has become one of India's largest shared electric mobility operators today.
Founded in 2017 as a shared electric mobility startup, Yulu's original mission was to decongest Indian cities. But a post-pandemic shift in user behaviour has transformed its business. Currently gig workers account for over 90% of its revenue. These riders, an ubiquitous sight in India's metro cities, clustering around apartment gates and dark stores in their yellow, orange, red and purple uniforms (representing Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto, respectively), are a testament to the company's role in the delivery ecosystem.
'We started by solving last-mile commutes for citizens," says founder Amit Gupta. 'But after covid, we saw more and more gig workers using our bikes for deliveries. That's now our biggest growth driver."
While quick commerce giants Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart battle intense competition, wafer-thin margins and rising losses, Yulu's strategy of catering to their delivery armies is proving scalable.
The company tripled its revenue to ₹111.5 crore in 2023-24, from ₹37.9 crore in 2022-23, according to Registrar of Companies filings accessed by Mint. However, its net loss widened to ₹135 crore in 2023-24 from ₹95.09 crore the previous year.
Gupta told Mint that the company turned Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) positive for select months in 2024-25 and expects it to be so for the whole of this fiscal year, reflecting the financial viability of this pivot.
Embracing gig workers
Yulu's journey began in 2017 with dockless bicycles and low-speed electric bikes such as the Yulu Miracle, which were aimed at short commutes in metro cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi.
The founding team includes chief executive officer (CEO) Amit Gupta, an IIT Kanpur alumnus and co-founder of InMobi; R.K. Misra, also from IIT Kanpur and Tokyo University, with a background in entrepreneurship and urban policy; and chief technology officer (CTO) Naveen Dachuri, who previously built analytics platforms for the US Federal Aviation Administration and holds degrees from IIT Kanpur and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. Their original vision was green and affordable mobility accessible via an app.
But bicycles never took off, and even large Chinese outfits such as Ofo shut shop within a year of operation. But Yulu Miracle, the company's 25kmph e-bike, which requires no licence, showed promise. And covid-19 brought an unexpected twist.
Around 2020, Yulu's data flagged a curious spike in usage at 1 pm, not typical office hours. 'We were very curious; who is going to the office at one o'clock in Bengaluru? It was not making sense," Gupta recalls. To their surprise, gig workers for Zomato and Swiggy were using Yulu bikes for lunch and medicine deliveries, a use case the Yulu team hadn't anticipated.
Initially, this sparked unease in Yulu's boardroom. 'Rather than feeling good about it, to start with, we thought, 'Hey, what is this use case?'" Gupta admits. But the data was undeniable and the team saw a massive under-served need from around 85% of Indians who lack access to bikes or driving licences. This data, when last-mile delivery was booming, made Yulu pivot.
In 2022, the company launched the DeX, a grey bike with a rear carrier, better shock absorbers, and seats tailored for gig workers. It was distinct from the blue Miracle, to preserve brand identity. The shift in focus turned a surprise into a business opportunity, aligning Yulu with the rise of quick commerce platforms.
'When quick commerce started becoming mainstream, our product market fit became stronger," says Gupta.
The company didn't disclose segment-wise revenue figures, but its goods mobility business is now dominated by hyperlocal deliveries, particularly grocery and food delivery. Among these, grocery riders contribute the highest share of active users.
According to Anjalli Ravi Kumar, chief sustainability officer at Eternal (parent of Zomato and Blinkit), the partnership between Yulu and Eternal aligns with the company's broader goal of facilitating 100% EV-based deliveries by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions across its food delivery value chain by 2033.
'This partnership has served as a key enabler in not just helping us achieve our goal but also significantly solving the bike accessibility issue for our delivery partners," she says. Currently, over 25% of online food deliveries in Bengaluru are made on electric vehicles.
The integration of Yulu's DeX bikes into the Zomato partner app allows for rapid onboarding, letting gig workers start earning almost instantly. Riders benefit from Yulu's battery swapping model, which minimizes downtime and removes the need for prolonged charging breaks. With Yulu managing the vehicle maintenance entirely, delivery partners are freed from repair responsibilities, which acts as a friction point common with personal two-wheelers, especially internal combustion engine (ICE) models.
Over the past year, Yulu has streamlined its operations, improving fleet productivity and optimizing battery-swapping throughput, which lowered its cost per vehicle and per swap. As fixed costs like manpower and infrastructure grew more slowly than revenue, these efficiencies helped push the company into Ebitda-positive territory, a position Gupta says Yulu is now well placed to sustain.
Optimizing data
Yulu's ability to adapt also largely focuses on its data-driven approach. With 45,000 IoT-enabled bikes generating real-time telematics, the company sits on a goldmine of usage data, revealing how and where its bikes move.
'The kind of data that the quick commerce user is generating is actually very, very valuable in identifying areas of inefficiency," Gupta explains.
For food deliveries, bike movements are random. But quick commerce riders return repeatedly to dark stores, creating distinct 'heat maps" around these hubs.
Yulu runs over 300 battery swapping stations under its Yuma Energy joint venture with Magna International. These are strategically placed within 0.2 to 2 km of high-demand delivery hubs. In some locations, Yuma has installed in-store swapping stations, reducing downtime and increasing order fulfilment by 10-15%.
'If we are able to place charging systems next to the dark stores, riders can do two or three orders more and hence earn more money," Gupta notes, highlighting how data-driven placement cuts gig worker's downtime by 15 to 20 minutes.
This data also informs customer acquisition. Yulu's telematics distinguish quick commerce riders from food delivery workers, enabling targeted marketing, which ensures bikes reach high-demand users. 'We use complex data analytics to drive go-to-market and operational strategies," says Gupta. 'This ensures our bikes are deployed where they're needed most, leaving little to chance."
The company's tech-focused approach helps it outperform rivals in utilization efficiency, a key driver of operational leverage in a capex-intensive model.
In Bengaluru and Mumbai, Yulu powers a third of quick commerce deliveries, with some dark stores seeing half their riders on Yulu bikes, claims Gupta.
Limited competition
Yulu faces competition from rivals such as Bounce and Zypp Electric, with each pursuing distinct strategies to serve the booming business-to-business (B2B) delivery market.
While Yulu has partnered with Bajaj Auto for scale (Bajaj manufacturers the bikes), Bounce is building its own bikes and Zypp Electric is sourcing from OEMs. With the rise of quick commerce and e-commerce, the B2B segment is emerging as the primary growth driver, as Indians largely prefer vehicle ownership, limiting business-to-consumer (B2C) traction.
But unlike Zypp Electric, which operates as a B2B logistics provider, Yulu retains a B2C focus, serving individual gig workers who hire its vehicles to work across platforms. 'Our customer is the gig worker. Platforms like Swiggy or Blinkit are our partners, not clients," Gupta clarifies.
The company's integrated control over vehicle design, software and battery infrastructure gives it an operational edge. Zypp use off-the-shelf vehicles and external charging partners, while Bounce Infinity, once a major rival in shared mobility, has pivoted to vehicle manufacturing.
'India's rental e-bike market continues to grow steadily, but inadequate urban road infrastructure is holding it back from achieving the same level of success seen in developed countries," says Soumen Mandal, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
To improve fleet efficiency and reduce downtime, companies such as Yulu and Zypp are betting on battery-swapping models, which align well with India's limited charging infrastructure. However, Mandal cautions that this model's long-term viability could be challenged as battery charging becomes faster.
An evolving market
India's urban logistics landscape has shifted dramatically with the rise of quick delivery platforms Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. The typical order travels 2km or less, at average speeds below 15kmph, an ideal use case for low-speed electric vehicles.
Yulu has introduced prepaid rental plans for gig workers, starting from a two-day plan priced at ₹549 for 200km. Weekly rental plans, preferred by most gig riders, start from ₹1,059 for 350km. However, based on average usage, their weekly outgo is around ₹2,000-2,500.
To expand sustainably, Yulu has adopted a dual model, a company-owned and operated system in tier I cities and franchise-led models for tier II and III towns. 'Our systems are plug-and-play," Gupta says. 'Local entrepreneurs can replicate our services under the Yulu brand."
Eric Vas, president of the EV business at Bajaj Auto, an investor in Yulu, says the company has steadily evolved its mobility-as-a-service model to keep pace with a fast-changing urban mobility landscape. Yulu has successfully adapted to post-covid realities and the rise of quick commerce, he notes. 'Their business model has pivoted in step with these developments, particularly the growth of the gig economy. And Yulu is well-positioned to expand into new geographies," says Vas.
Acceleration challenge
Yulu has raised over $123 million in equity funding, including significant investments from Bajaj Auto and Magna International, and has also secured $12 million in debt financing from institutions such as the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Northern Arc. Bajaj Auto invested $8 million in Yulu in 2019. In 2024, the auto maker invested an additional ₹45.75 crore, raising its stake to 18.8%.
Yulu now plans to deploy 100,000 EVs across 15-18 cities by 2025.
However, despite its market dominance, the company literally faces a speed limit in its growth aspirations. Mint spoke to three delivery riders who all cited the low speed of Yulu's e-bikes as a key limitation for long-term use.
For most gig workers, maximizing daily deliveries directly affects earnings and Yulu's speed cap on the DeX makes it harder to achieve those targets. As a result, many riders find that investing in a petrol bike, despite the higher fuel costs, pays off through increased delivery volumes.
A common pattern across riders indicates that they often rely on Yulu in the initial months to save up for a down payment on a petrol bike, after which they shift to that personal vehicle and use Yulu only occasionally.
To address this drop-off, Yulu is introducing the Yulu Express, a 45kmph, two-seater EV with larger payload capacity for the food delivery, e-commerce and courier segments. These sectors demand longer range, higher speed and flexibility.
This move marks a strategic evolution for Yulu, which has so far focused heavily on short-distance and high-density delivery zones suited for quick commerce. The mid-speed bike is also being paired with infrastructure enhancements such as the placement of battery-swapping stations closer to dark stores and high-demand zones. 'If we achieve that, it's a win-win situation for everyone," says Gupta, noting that this proximity could drive operational efficiencies and improve rider uptime.
However, entering this category also means Yulu is stepping into more competitive terrain. While its existing fleet faces limited competition due to its vertically integrated and purpose-built design for low-speed logistics, the mid-speed market is an entirely different story. Here, Yulu will face stiff competition not only from internal combustion engine (ICE) two-wheelers but also from established EV makers Ola Electric, Bounce Infinity, Hero Electric and new startups catering to the B2B logistics space.
But despite these challenges, Yulu believes its hyper-focused business model gives it a strong foundation. Gupta says the company remains unit economics-positive and intends to stay focused on solving 'the most difficult problems" rather than chasing short-term revenue opportunities.
But sustaining this edge in a higher-speed and higher-stakes segment will test the company's ability to scale infrastructure, adapt to evolving regulations, and maintain profitability as new contenders enter the fray.
