Bengaluru-based electric scooter start-up River, which is backed by marquee investors such as Yamaha Motor and Toyota Ventures, plans to export to about 11 countries soon. "We have an investor- Al Futtaim Group of Middle East Dubai. They are Toyota distributors in Dubai. We have an agreement with them to help us scale to around 11 countries globally because they already have local presence in those countries. We will export out of Bengaluru starting at the end of this year or early next year," Aravind Mani, co-founder and CEO of River, told this newspaper.
The company will start with Sri Lanka or Myanmar and then will scale to Southeast Asia, Europe.
The start-up has an R&D centre in Bengaluru where it employs about 400 people. "We develop the entire vehicle from scratch, starting from designing the vehicle, making the battery technology, the battery management system, the vehicle control units. The cell is imported, but the battery pack is made by us. We don't make cells at scale in India," he said, adding in the next 2 to 3 years, India will start producing it at a large scale.
Founded in 2021 by Aravind Mani and Vipin George, the start-up last year raised $40 million (Rs 335 crore) in Series B round, led by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. River started selling its first product Indie, the SUV of scooters in October 2023. The first River store was opened in Bengaluru in January 2024.
"We will close the year with maybe around 6000-7000 vehicles in FY25. Next year, we are targeting to sell around 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles," the co-founder added. By March 2025, it is planning to open 25 stores and by next March, it plans to expand to 100 stores.