The fundraising plan, which also involves group entity Mahindra Logistics, comes at a time when Meru is sharpening focus on providing cabs to corporates and expanding the number of electric vehicles in its fleet.
Neeraj Gupta, the founder and managing director of Meru Mobility, told ET earlier that it was in the process of making a business plan to tap strategic investors.
M&M said it had no comments to offer, while Orix did not respond to ET’s emails seeking comment.
Last year, South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors led a $300-million investment in Ola, while Southeast Asian rival Grab raised funds from Toyota and Hyundai in 2018.
M&M has said previously that it would look at an initial public offering (IPO) for its mobility unit, of which Meru is a part, to unlock value. It had planned to make the mobility business – which include Meru, Alyte and Glyd — a $1 billion offering over the next 3-4 years.
The group is already an investor in self-drive car rental platform ZoomCar India and has integrated Meru EVGO and Mahindra’s electric vehicle platform Glyd for city and outstation travel.
Meru’s EV plans include creating infrastructure to operate a fleet of over 300 EVs across India, with the eventual goal of increasing this to 10,000 EVs, in keeping with the group’s electric mobility focus.
Meru’s revenue fell to Rs 156 crore in financial year 2019 from Rs 277 crore in fiscal year 2018.
Meanwhile, VS Parthasarathy, the president of Mahindra group’s newly formed Mobility Services Sector (MSS), has decided to leave the group effective April 1 to pursue personal interests.
Parthasarathy was spearheading MSS, a growth driver and incubation platform for future investments by the group in technology-driven mobility companies, with the vision of co-creating the ‘Future of Mobility’.
The Mahindra group’s mobility businesses include Mahindra Logistics and the erstwhile aftermarket sector firms, Mahindra First Choice Wheels and First Choice Services, as well as its investments in Meru, SmartShift and ZoomCar.
