Baaz Bikes, a complete electric vehicle ecosystem for gig workers, has raised $8 million in a funding round led by a Singaporean venture capital firm.

The Series A funding round included Rakuten Capital, the Japanese venture capital arm of Rakuten Group, and continued support from existing investors such as Kalaari Capital and 9Unicorns.

The funds will be used to strengthen and optimize the product offering, with a focus on improving security and promoting the scalability of the gig economy.

New Delhi-based Baaz Bikes uses electric scooters and an automated battery-swapping infrastructure known as Baaz Swap. Founded by IIT Delhi alumni Anubhav Sharma, Abhijeet Saxena, Karan Singla and Shubham Srivastava, the 60-member startup also operates software tools that manage charging and on-demand rental of scooters and connected batteries.

Baaz Bikes charges riders who work as gig workers on delivery platforms like Zomato, Zepto, Swiggy and Amazon at Rs 5,000 per month per scooter. The subscription covers several battery changes per month.

Currently, Baaz operates only in the South Delhi region with over 500 drivers and over 30 exchange stations, founder and CEO Anubhav Sharma says. The company aims to increase these figures by 10-12 times by July 2024.

The newly raised funds will help Baaz expand its network in the National Capital Region, which includes Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida, among others.

Baaz Bikes aims to eventually move from a closed-loop ecosystem to batteries and become interoperable, Sharma says, with no timetable. It also plans to open up ownership options for its scooters, making the company's assets lighter.

“We will also come up with an auto scooter that will cater to the bike taxi segment as well. Right now we are focused on the food and grocery delivery, but we are looking to capture the bike taxi market as well by launching a product at least like six to seven months away,” Sharma adds.