Commercial EV start-up Turno raises $13.8 mn from B Capital, Quona Capital, others

It’s raining money for EV start-ups. After recording their highest funding in a decade,  having raised a total of $1.66 billion in 2022, a jump of 117 per cent from $766 million in 2021, India’s EV start-ups have continued the momentum in 2023 too. 

The latest to join the club is commercial EV platform Turno,  which has raised $13.8 million in a Series A round co-led by B Capital and Quona Capital, with participation from Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital. Turno’s existing investors Stellaris Venture Partners and Avaana Capital also joined the round. 

Turno plans to utilise the capital to ramp up its proprietary battery technology and scale up its EV financing operations across India. It is currently operational in five states — Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi NCR, and Maharashtra.

At present, it offers a multi-brand selection of electric vehicles at attractive prices through its omni-channel EV sales platform, low-cost financing for EV owners, and a guaranteed buy-back value on used batteries. The start-up claims to reduce the overall cost of EV ownership for buyers by 30 per cent. 

Commenting on the investment, Karan Mohla, General Partner at B Capital and head of early-stage investments in India & SEA, said, “Commercial EV sales are heavily dependent on the availability of attractive financing options and today the Indian market is plagued by lack of truly customer-centric options. Turno has identified a key missing element in the ecosystem that solves the problem of financing as well as distribution and servicing.”

Varun Malhotra, Partner at Quona Capital, added, “We’ve been very impressed with Turno’s progress to date in making commercial EVs more readily available across India, and with their intentional work in lifecycle management of those EVs and their batteries.”

Founded by former Zoomcar executives Hemanth Aluru and Sudhindra Reddy in January 2022, Turno has already struck partnerships with leading 3W electric vehicle manufacturers, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Piaggio, Omega Seiki Mobility and Etrio, to sell their vehicles across the country. 

Hemanth Aluru, Co-Founder & CEO of Turno, shared, “Today 80-85 per cent of India’s automotive fuel consumption is driven by commercial vehicles with internal combustion engines. Yet, there is a strong desire to transition to a green economy and so, commercial EV adoption holds significant promise. Turno was founded with the mission to convert these ‘gasoline miles’ into ‘electric miles’, having a significant positive impact on the environment.”

In the last 12-15 months, EV start-ups in India have benefited significantly from favourable government policies and increasing private investments in the sector, creating more options for consumers. India also crossed the milestone of 1 million EVs sold in 2022, with electric 2W accounting for a lion’s share of the sales.