Exclusive: Ultraviolette expands its ESOP pool by $22 Mn

Electric bike startup Ultraviolette has expanded its employee stock option (ESOP) pool by adding fresh ESOP options. The company recently raised $10 million as a part of a Series D round from Exor Co-Invest.

The board at Ultraviolette has passed a special resolution to grant 6,466 employee stock options (ESOP) to its employees, its regulatory filing filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows.

According to the filings, every options will be converted into equity shares. As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the newly added ESOP options are worth around Rs 175 crore (approximately $22 million).

Ultraviolette has been developing its flagship F77 motorcycle which has three variants Airstrike, Laser, and Shadow. A yet-to-be-launched bike claims to enable 130-150 kilometres at one go with a set of its three batteries.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it has commenced the production trials of the F77 bike at its manufacturing facility near Bengaluru. According to the firm, it has received over 65,000 pre order interests from India, US, and Europe, among others.

Also Read: The landscape of EV startups in India: Entrackr report

In the two wheeler electric bike segment, Ultraviolette competes with Revolt, Pure EV, Tork Motors and legacy companies. Backed by the likes of TVS Motor and Zoho Corporation, the Narayan Subramaniam-led startup is currently valued at $310 million, as per Fintrackr’s estimates.

Founded in 2015, Ultraviolette had zero operating revenue as of FY21 whereas its expenses decreased by 37% to Rs 2.37 crore during the fiscal year ending in March 2021.

Data compiled by Fintrackr shows that electric vehicle startups saw an uptick in funding from $195 million in 2020 to $570 million in 2021 and more than $670 million in 2022 so far.