Bengaluru-based bike gear manufacturing startup AptEner Mechatronics has raised ₹10 crores ($1.4 million) in series A round of funding from venture capital firms KITVEN and Inventus India. The startup plans to use the funds to launch its products into the market and also expand to several geographies.
The two-year-old startup has designed a wearable cooler which can be fir onto helmets. It creates a range of motorcycle gears under the brand name “BlueArmor” to provide safety and comfort to bike riders. AptEner aims to become a one-stop bike accessory brand with features like airconditioning, climatic control, Bluetooth connectivity and improved vision system.
The startup has launched BlueSnap, a wearable cooler which fits on an existing full-face motorcycle helmet, blocks dust and cools the inside of the helmet by up to 15 degrees. The startup has filed for the patents for BlueSnap in India and the US as well as under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, an international patent law treaty which gives protection to the technology in over 100 countries.
“We have an aggressive roadmap in terms of the accessories we want to build for the two-wheeler riders. Part of the funding is going to go towards the roadmap development, and part of it for marketing the generation two and other accessories, and also for international expansion,” AptEner Mechatronics founder PK Sundararajan told Inc42.
After the launch, the startup claims to have sold about 5,000 units of BluSnap priced at ₹2,299 in countries like India, South America, Paraguay, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore. This is the first generation of the product. The second generation is expected to hit the Indian market in the next four weeks with upgraded features in terms of weight, size and performance.
