Mumbai Angels bets on green travel tech startup BLive

The eco-friendly travel tourism platform, BLive owned by Panji headquartered Arcis Tours, has raised a large amount. However, the total sum is still not disclosed. The amount was raised in a bridge funding round from Mumbai Angel Network, an early-stage investor platform. 

The company provides its customers with a tour on electric bikes. In 2019 it earned approximately $520,000. The amount was raised in a stake sale to an event management firm, DNA Entertainment Networks from Bangalore. In addition, it also raised $130,000 in a seed round from Goa-based angel investors, vimson Group CMD Shivanand Salgaocar and Dempo Group chairman Shrinivas Dempo.

The eco-tourism platform company was established in 2016 by Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee. BLive provides life- long remote-rural experience tours to its customers. Tours on the electric bikes cover a range of 50 kilometers. In addition, there are packaged tours also, it covers areas around Goa, Mysore, Gujarat, and Puducherry. 

As per the statement given by the company, BLive is gonna grow its business with the raised money. It will expand its operations to new locations. 

Before Kholkar founded BLive, he worked as the CEO of Mojo Hospitality. Moreover, he had also spent 10 years in sales and marketing at IBM. Whereas, Mukherjee is an experienced marketer with over 13 years of marketing experience at different companies like Nokia, Microsoft, and SABMiller.

However, the outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the travel and tourism industry really hard. Still, the confident investors secured an investment amidst the present situation. And the potential of these business models boosted the confidence of BLive and they hope to bounce back quickly. 

Mumbai Angels also expect the industry to re-enter their success track.

Nandini Mansighka, the co-promoter, and CEO of Mumbai Angels said that In the present situation we are seeing a dynamic shift in travel-related companies. But they hope things get better and wish to see BLive as a star of their portfolio. She hopes that the industry will redefine mobility in the near future. 

Till now, BLive is the first bet of Mumbai Angels’ in 2020. However, there are some latest investments of the company, such as do-it-yourself kit making startup WitBlox and space-tech startup Dhruva Space. Whereas, last year, Mumbai Angels was associated with the ed-tech platform Funtoot. And as per the records, Mumbai Angels Network has a network of over 450 members and a portfolio of 135 startups at present.