Bangalore-headquartered start-up Virtual Forest is investing INR 4 crore (approx $500 K) towards developing motor controllers for electric two-wheelers (E2W) and three-wheelers (E3W). Omer Basith, Founder & CEO, Virtual Forest, told Mobility Outlook that the majority of this investment is directed towards procuring equipment required to develop motor controllers.
'We will be expanding our team to 100. Most of the new hirings we are making will be design, testing, and validation engineers,' he said.
Already a supplier of Inverter Air Conditioner controllers, Inverter Washing Machine Controllers and Brushless DC (BLDC) Ceiling Fan Controller to Voltas, IFB, Crompton, Luminous, and others, the start-up's five founders saw it natural to foray into developing and manufacturing motor controllers for E2Ws and E3Ws. While these would be the first set of controllers it works on for high-speed two-wheelers, the start-up has started supplying the same for low-speed ones.
Validation From NXP Semiconductors
The start-up's upcoming motor controllers (3-15 kW range) will use semiconductors supplied by the NXP Team. As claimed by Basith, NXP has chosen Virtual Forest as their only partner in India to work on motor controllers for electric vehicles (EVs). There would be instances in the journey where the engineering teams of both organisations will work together to develop the same.
'Motor controllers developed by us will be showcased by NXP at next year's Detroit Motor Show. It's already a big validation for us,' Basith explained. He feels that the same motor controllers will be capable enough to be deployed in low-speed electric three-wheelers.
Arrow Electronics, a leading distributor of electronic components, has signed a contract with Virtual Forest to market and distribute these motor controllers for three years exclusively. However, the start-up will also have the freedom to reach out to potential clients to pitch the solutions independently. Basith claimed that his team is in talks with many India-based E2W and E3W OEMs for supplying the motor controllers.
Valued at $8.68 billion in 2022, the EV motor market size is expected to hit around $40.58 billion by 2030 and is poised to grow at a CAGR of 21.26% from 2022 to 2030. A report by Precedence Research has pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region will continue to dominate this market.
Founders Own 84% Of The Start-up
Reporting revenues of $4.5 million last fiscal (approx INR 36 crore), the start-up's order books forecast a $15 million (approx INR 120 crore) revenue figure for this fiscal. Basith is targeting to drive 40% of the start-up's revenues from the EV vertical by 2025/26; hence it will foray into developing and making more components and solutions.
'We will not limit ourselves to motor controllers, and there will be one more announcement around EVs made from us during the next four weeks,' he said. It is speculated that Virtual Forest will enter the 4W motor controllers domain before the end of November 2022.
Owned 84% by the five co-founders, the start-up has only raised one funding round so far when Napino Electronics took a 16% in exchange for INR5 crore in 2020. Basith noted that they will raise more funding but only from 'strategic' partners like Napino.
As per a report by Global Motor Insights, the electric two-wheeler market size was valued at $65 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand to $100 billion by 2030 at over 5% CAGR from 2022 to 2030. Fortune Business Insights, on the other hand, has projected the electric three-wheeler market to grow from $582.46 million in 2021 to $831.10 million in 2028 at a CAGR of 5.2%.
Also Read