The B2B vertical of Orxa Energies is creating healthy profit margins, revealed Ranjita Ravi, Co- Founder, Orxa Energies, in a recent conversation with Mobility Outlook. She said, “This is something that we have kept silent so far about.”
There are two faces of Orxa Energies - one which works with B2B organisations and the other that will launch performance electric vehicles. Work on the Mantis started in 2015, and there have been more than five iterations of the motorcycle that had first started as a trike.
Ravi added, “As a company, we are yet to enter the B2C vertical, and we will do so before the end of this year with the launch of our first electric performance motorcycle Mantis. Orxa's B2B wing, however, has been profitable.”
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Drones To Bigger EVs
Notably, the start-up is working with several companies and helping them with battery packs, and more segments related to the 'performance electric vehicles' vertical, some of which include vehicle design, architecture, engineering, embedded systems, power electronics, software, and IoT stack.
“We see performance EVs as the common thread in all that we do. Whether it is working with other companies or research organisations, or working on developing the Mantis, the keyword performance binds all our activities together,” Ravi explained.
Last year, Orxa Energies manufactured and supplied battery packs for over 250 drones and will close this year with a number larger than that. Due to non-disclosure agreements, the start-up founders refrained from sharing the names of any companies they were working with.
“Whether civilian or defense, the companies we work with are particular about their confidentiality,” Ravi pointed out. The start-up has also been developing and supplying battery packs used in “extreme temperature conditions.” The team has also worked with several bigger vehicle platforms other than Mantis in “more than one way,” he stated.
Despite the similarities between EV and drone vehicles, the start-up does not have any immediate plans of entering the drone manufacturing arena but is using the learnings from the drone vertical to improve Mantis.
“What happens in aerospace encourages the developments in the automotive space, and vice-versa. On the B2C front, we want to focus on the Mantis at the moment,” Ravi said.
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SAR Group, And Over 500 Suppliers
Orxa Energies is currently working with over 500 suppliers from India and says 90% of the components used in Mantis are sourced from Indian suppliers. Dr Prajwal Sabnis, Co-Founder, Orxa Energies, said they are targeting to increase the localisation content from the current 90%.
“Though we work with vendors of all sizes, we have been able to identify a few vendors who are ready to make the effort for taking the localisation level to the next level,” explained Dr Sabnis.
The company says it has benefitted immensely from every investor that has backed Orxa Energies since 2015. In July-August 2022, SAR Group invested close to $5 million in Orxa Energies, and the founders say that this strategic investment from the group has helped them in more than one way.
Ravi said, “We have known SAR Group for over five years now, and had been in various discussions with them apart from the funding. Orxa Energies has started working on several projects with SAR. More importantly, the advice that we get from the leadership at SAR has benefitted us in many ways.”
Under its business portfolio, SAR Group manufactures batteries under the Livguard brand, offers modular solutions for connected vehicles under the Lime AI brand and offers battery swaps for EVs under the Mooving brand, and has also entered the EV space under the Lectrix brand.
Orxa Energies is probably SAR Group’s first investment in the performance EV segment, and SAR Group has one of the largest dealership networks in India. It will open the track days for Mantis in a few weeks, and those who test-ride the Mantis could only book it. Upon launch, the Mantis’ closest competitors will be the KTM 200, 250s, and the recently launched Ultraviolette F11.