Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

“Government needs to make the regulatory regime friendly for startups.” Manesh Jain : I am co-founder and CEO of Flo Mobility having 16 years of expe- rience, out of which the last 10 years are in startups. Have founded 2 startups be - fore Flo Mobility and have got successful exits from both. The previous startup was an ed-tech venture acquired by Reliance Jio-Embibe. I am very passionate about green energy. I believe we need to relook at the way we design our cities and ve- hicles, to provide quick and comfortable commute options to people across all classes of the society. The other co-founder is Angad Singi who is also the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the company. His automobile journey started when he first built a car for com - petition in the 2nd year of his college and has never stopped making automobiles after that. In 4 years of his college, he was responsible for building five cars for competitions and one foldable electric bike. He, then, went ahead and started Lithos Motors that built electric bikes for food delivery companies. Later, he had a successful exit from Lithos Motors. With an itch to create something more intelli- gent, connected and futuristic, he joined hands with me to build Flo. How do you plan to market your prod- uct? Manesh Jain : Initially, our focus is on large private premises like Universi- ties, Factories, Townships, Resorts, etc. There are more than 100,000 ultra-large campuses across the globe where com- muting in-and-around the campus is a challenge. Studies suggest that riders drop off 67 per cent of the time if the vehicle is more than 200 meters away energetica INDIA- May-June_2021 39 EMERGING INNOVATORS from them. Moreover, the clutter that re- sults from people not leaving the vehi- cles at proper parking places, is a huge concern. Several large cities across the globe have put penalties and banned fleet operators for not being able to manage the fleets. Moreover, vandalism and vehicle misuse are also a matter of concern. Our tech can address all these issues and help fleet operators improve utilization, increase revenue, reduce op- erations costs and address vandalism. We intend to partner with micro-mobility companies who have existing fleets as well as relationships with the campuses and deploy our tech as a seamless mo- bility solution for an in-campus commute. As we progress and extend our tech on other vehicles, we will cater to other use cases like last-mile delivery and ware- house automation and eventually deploy the tech on public roads too. As an entrant what kind of challenges have you faced? Manesh Jain : Hiring and Supply chain are the primary challenges that we en- countered. There are not many people who are working on autonomous EV technology in India. Restricted move- ment of people because of Covid has also hampered some prospects. On the supply chain side, there is a signif- icant dependency on China and lead times are unbearable. Especially at the research stage since processes are iter- ative, a small modification impacts time - lines by weeks. We have moved whatev- er we could to indigenous components but this, still, remains a concern. What are your views on government support for the start-up ecosystem in the country? Any suggestions? Manesh Jain : Though the ecosystem has matured a lot over the past few years, there is a long way to go to make India a preferred startup destination. The on-ground impact of various large-scale initiatives is still very limited. Especially for deep-tech startups, there has to be an impetus on R&D and tighter IP protec- tion norms to make India a global R&D hub. Several MNCs already have their research center here. There is no dearth of talent and you would see Indians in almost all domains where cutting-edge innovation is happening. Secondly, the government needs to make the regula- tory regime friendly for startups. We still hear cases of notices being slapped on startups for seemingly unfounded rea- sons. As a result, several founders have started incorporating companies outside India. Share details about Flo Mobility’s in- vestment and funding? Manesh Jain : We are boot-strapped at present and raising the seed round of funding. The funds will help us in build- ing a fully autonomous stack faster and execute pilot projects. IP is our biggest differentiator and we would continue to focus on building an innovative stack that is efficient as well as cost-effective. Also, the 3D maps and meta information that we get from our data will deepen our moat and make our tech more accurate and reliable. Q. What keeps you motivated? Manesh Jain : The impact that our tech can create in disrupting the urban com- mute landscape is our biggest source of inspiration. When we imagine a traf- fic-free urban city landscape, where everyone gets a safe and comfortable mode of travel, and people reach their destinations on time and without has- sle, it prompts us to relentlessly work towards building the technology that will power every vehicle in the future.