Brands
Oben rides high with Rs 100 Cr Series A charge for e-motorcycle push
MUMBAI: Full throttle, zero emissions, Oben Electric is charging ahead, literally and figuratively. The Bengaluru-based EV startup has announced an extended Series A funding round of Rs 50 crore in May 2025, doubling its January raise and taking the total Series A tally to Rs 100 crore. With this, Oben Electric has now raised a total of Rs 200 crore to date, further fuelling its ambition to become India’s leading electric motorcycle brand.
The latest round saw participation from both new and returning investors, including Helios Holdings, the Sharda Family Office, and the Kay family, signalling continued confidence in the company’s growth, tech edge, and strong unit economics.
Oben plans to deploy the fresh capital to supercharge its expansion to 150 plus showrooms across 50 plus cities by FY26, roll out its O100 platform of affordable e-bikes under Rs 1 lakh, and boost manufacturing capabilities at its Bangalore facility, which already churns out up to 100,000 units annually.
Sandesh of the Sharda Family Office said, “Oben Electric has cracked the product-market fit in a large, untapped category. Their full-stack integration from LFP batteries to control units and their high growth QoQ made this a clear bet.”
The company currently boasts 37 retail outlets across 26 cities in 13 states, with new footprints in Punjab, Telangana, Gujarat, and Odisha, among others solidifying its rapid post-funding execution.
At the heart of Oben’s offering is the Oben Rorr EZ, priced at Rs 99,999, targeting urban commuters with its 175 km range, 0–40 km/h in 3.3 seconds, and 95 km/h top speed. Its flagship Rorr, too, continues to make noise among performance-first riders, both powered by India’s first LFP battery tech in two-wheelers, engineered for durability and heat resistance.
Oben’s differentiation lies in being truly R&D-led and vertically integrated, designing not just bikes but also their core systems motors, batteries, vehicle control units, and fast home chargers all in-house. With a team of 500 plus experts, 150 plus domestic vendors, and partnerships across 68,000 public chargers, Oben is laying the groundwork for long-term dominance.
Oben Electric founder & CEO Madhumita Agrawal summed it up, “With O100 and rapid expansion underway, we’re not just building electric motorcycles, we’re building India’s answer to global two-wheeler mobility.”
The company now has its sights on a USD 30 million Series B fundraise in 2025, aimed at international expansion and deeper product scale-up. If Oben’s roadmap is anything to go by, India’s electric two-wheeler scene just got a whole lot more exciting.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
