Business briefs

The city-based cold chain solutions startup TESSOL on Thursday said it has raised Rs 7.5 crore from Mela Ventures for enhancing its RD capabilities, new products, application development as well as geographical expansion and capacity building.

The city-based cold chain solutions startup TESSOL on Thursday said it has raised Rs 7.5 crore from Mela Ventures for enhancing its R&D capabilities, new products, application development as well as geographical expansion and capacity building. Besides Mela Ventures, existing investors 1crowdAngels and 1Fund will also participate in this round and top up the current investment, the company said in a statement. Currently, TESSOL Founder and Chief Executive Officer Rajat Gupta and 1crowd are on the board and as a part of the process, Mela Ventures will also get on the company's board soon, it said. ''The Pandemic has led to a sudden increase in the demand for food and pharmaceutical last-mile cold chains globally. Having proven our position as a market leader in India, this is the most opportune time to invest in scaling our solutions globally and planning our foray into new application areas,'' said Gupta. The company will be investing in further enhancing its internal R&D and application engineering capabilities and building the foundation to be a global category leader in this space, he added. TESSOL caters to e-commerce and quick commerce brands, helping them effectively and efficiently move perishable products in the mid and last mile, as per the statement. ''The funds would be utilised for capacity expansion and team building. We will soon be onboarding some of the best minds who will help us scale and expand into international markets as well,'' Niranjana Neelakantan, Co-founder and COO of the company said. As budding entrepreneurs, the company is also excited to partner with uber-successful entrepreneurs such as Krishnakumar Natarajan and Parthasarathy N S and will leverage their experience and expertise to take it to the next level of growth, Neelakantan said.

**** Ampere rolls out 50,000th electric scooter from Ranipet megasite * Greaves Electric Mobility's two-wheeler brand Ampere has rolled out its 50,000th electric scooter from its EV megasite in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu. The milestone has been fuelled by the conscious shift of consumers towards sustainable and affordable electric mobility, growing product awareness, increased fuel prices and heightened cognisance about environmental issues, the company said. The Ranipet EV (electric vehicle) manufacturing plant was set up with an aim to disrupt the domestic transportation landscape and creating an affordable and sustainable ecosystem for clean last-mile mobility in the country, it stated. The recent investment by Abdul Latif Jameel in Greaves Electric Mobility is a significant step forward to driving EV technological advancement and achieving India's target of growing the number of EVs in the country to 30 per cent by 2030, the company said. Sanjay Behl, CEO and Executive Director, Greaves Electric Mobility, said, ''Our EV megasite was developed with the intent of accelerating the ecologically-virtuous cycle that our planet deserves, and it is incredible that we have reached the 50,000 mark.'' Owing to the increased customer awareness, preference for green mobility and a host of incentives offered by different states, the company has hit the inflection point for EVs to take off and are optimistic about mass EV adoption in the country, he added. Greaves Electric Mobility, which is the e-mobility arm of the diversified engineering conglomerate Greaves Cotton, currently manufactures electric two-wheelers under the brand name of Ampere Vehicles and three-wheeler vehicles (e-auto and e-rickshaw) under the ELE and Teja brands, respectively.