On The Move

Bengaluru-based urban mobility start-up Yulu Bikes provides bicycles and battery-operated two-wheelers to solve first and last-mile connectivity issues.

- Rukmini Rao

YULU’S JOURNEY started when Amit Gupta was about to turn 40. As a first-time entrepreneur in his 20s, he co-founded India’s first unicorn startup InMobi. But that just happened, he says. “There was no logic. I wanted to be an entrepreneur when I turned 20 and I thought I will retire when I turn 40.” But retirement is far from his mind now. When he was searching for the next big idea, India’s plentiful problems threw up many options, but traffic congestion and pollution was what drew him. “Irrespective of profession or financial status, we all take the same roads everyday and if hurts me, I’m reminded of the problem every day.”

Amit thought a last-mile, short-distance, electric mobility solution could be an answer. When he began to think about this seriously in 2016, he first sounded off the other co-founders and board members of InMobi. After initial reluctance, they parted ways.

Then came building a new team. Amit turned to his friend and a senior from IIT Kanpur, R.K. Misra. To get a person with a strong understanding of data analysis and AI, he turned to his batchmate Naveen Dachuri. For operations, Amit turned to his childhood friend Hemant Gupta.