The acting skills and the sense of humor of the founders of Gear Head Motors, surely kept us entertained throughout their pitch.
Even though there were loopholes pointed out by the sharks in the pitch offered by Gunda Nikhil and V Sai Meher, but still, managed to convince the sharks and cinch the deal.
Gear Head Motors
Gear Head Motors is an electric bicycle and tricycle manufacturing company. They sell electric cycles at 24,000 rs, which is pretty cheap compared to the big players in the market.
Let us explore what inspired them to enter this segment.
Electric scooters were selling for 1 lakh to 2 lakh rupees. Now the buyers who fall into the category of 50,000 to 60,000 were uncatered. That is why they chose to target them.
Also, they had tried converting Omni and Nano, but it turned out to be super expensive. It further strengthened their belief that electric cycles are the best bet for them.
The best part about their cycle is that it is entirely MADE IN INDIA.
Almost all the manufacturers in India who sell electric bikes keep the controller (which controls the speed, power, and acceleration) and battery separate. The reason behind this is that they import the controller from China.
Whereas they manufacture both the controller and battery in India. Thus reducing our dependency on China.
You can check out their website here.
Gear Head Motors e-bike
They currently have 4 models of cycle
L- ₹ 24,000
I- ₹ 28,000
F- ₹ 34,000
E- ₹ 38,000
On a single charge, the cycle runs for 60 km. A small battery takes 2 hrs to charge and a big battery takes 3 hrs to charge.
Their battery pack is detachable and is enclosed in an Aluminium casing to cool the battery.
They have also made a deal with the government to supply Tricycles for the specially-abled for 20 crores.
Founder of Gear Head Motors
Gunda Nikhil and V Sai Meher were engineering students. During college, Gunda Nikhil had more interest in running a business than attending lectures.
So he started his own coffee shop. It attracted a large crowd of engineering students and it was difficult to fit them in the small coffee shop. So he started an app called AMIGO through which the students can pre-order the coffee.
The college authorities objected to this and he was asked to shut down the cafe. But like any other good businessman instead of closing it down, he decided to sell it to the college for 75,000 Rs.
When the cafe was shut down, he installed his QR code in the restaurants and founded his own company. Within 6 months his QR code was there in more than 300 restaurants. While he was doing this, a local POS (Point Of Sale) company offered to purchase and he sold his company to them for 2 Cr.
With that money, he purchased the land for his mechanical engineering start-up. This is where he partnered with his fellow engineering student V Sai Meher.
This is how they started their journey to manufacture electric bicycles and tricycles.
Social Media Accounts
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
What Pissed off the sharks
The founders has formed two companies.
- GHM Labs Pvt. Ltd.
- Gear Head Motors
They had also, raised a round for GHM Labs Pvt. Ltd. 2 (15.60 crores) million valuation for Rs 3 cr investment.
When Namita Thapar questioned why the investors did not invest in Gear Head Motors their reply was that they did not allow them.
To which Namita replied that Gear Head Motors is a profitable company and they are cheating the investors by not allowing them to invest in it.
The sharks point blank told the founders that if they want investment then both companies have to be merged. To which the founders agreed.
Funding asked from the sharks
75 lakhs for 2% equity
Sales of the company
(2021-2022)- ₹ 4 Cr
(2022-2023)- ₹ 1.5 Cr
Current year projection ₹ 20 Cr
Sharks offer
The idea of having two companies seemed fishy to Namita, Vineeta, and Anupam and they lost their trust in the company and backed out.
Aman and Piyush still found it worth investing and gave a combined offer of ₹ 1 Cr for 7.5% equity to be equally divided.
To which the founders counter-offered ₹ 1 Cr investment for 6.67 equity, Piyush Bansal and Aman accepted and sealed the deal.
Concluding remarks
The company’s endeavor to provide an eco-friendly mode of transportation for middle-class people might bring about a change in the way Indians travel. We need more companies like these who make their products in India and reduce our dependency on china.
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