On Tuesday, electric vehicle (EV) startup Oben Electric announced that it had raised Rs 40 crore or $4.88 million in an extended Pre-series A round. The Bengaluru-based startup has raised Rs 88 crore, including Rs 72 crore (both in equity and debt) in the pre-series A round. 

Institutional investors such as Stride Ventures and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). Existing investors, including the Kalvani Family Office, US India EV Angels and We Founder Circle, and new investors, including Mumbai Angels and other high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), participated in the funding round. 

The startup also announced that it would start delivering the 21,000 pre-orders of its flagship electric motorcycle Oben Rorr to customers in Bengaluru from the first week of July 2023. It has a distribution network across major cities in the country. 

The incoming funds will help the company scale up its production capacity at its manufacturing facility in Bengaluru to 1 lakh units per year and meet working capital requirements for expanding its distribution network, the company said in a statement.