Charged Down: Ohm Daily Powers Off After Five-Year EV Financing Run

Ohm Daily, the Bengaluru EV financing startup that had been backed by Antler India and CRED founder Kunal Shah, has now shut down after five years of pivots, partnerships, and dogged experimentation. Co-founder and CEO Nikhil Nair announced the shutdown in a thoughtful LinkedIn post, attributing failure to crack a business model that was scalable and sustainable as the reason.

Important breakthroughs and chronology:

Established in 2020 as Ohm Mobility, the company was intended to make EV financing easier by coordinating fleet operators and gig workers with banks and NBFCs.

In 2024, it re-branded as Ohm Daily and its business model is focused on micro-finance products for auto drivers and wage earners.

The company received Rs 3 crore of pre-seed funding from Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, and a group of angel investors such as Kunal Shah

It was a Microsoft for Startups program and acquired CloudNBFC to add loan management capabilities

Operational highlights and partnerships:

Ohm Daily enabled lending to thousands of EV buyers, collaborating with the likes of IDFC, EvFin, Bike Bazaar, and Ecofy

Despite strong support and ecosystem alignments, the startup found it difficult to scale in India's regulation-heavy and capital-heavy EV ecosystem

The company was financially sound, paying workers' wages on time and commanding investors' trust

Looking ahead:

Nair and co-founder Nikhil Saigal plan to apply their learnings to a new business

The shutdown is one of a slew of EV and technology startups fighting against headwinds in India's evolving mobility space

Sources: YourStory, Tech in Asia, Indian Startup Times, CEO Vine, StartupTalky
 

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