The Magna Yuma Energy investment now runs to $35 million in fresh capital, as Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna International bets deeper on battery swapping in India, a market it has quietly been building inside since 2022. The recipient is Yuma Energy, the Bengaluru-based firm that operates a battery-swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers across 18 Indian cities.
Yuma managing director Muthu Subramanian confirmed the investment in an interview, describing it as a Series A round aimed at achieving EBITDA-positive operations by FY27. The new money increases Magna’s stake beyond the 51% it held when the joint venture was formed, though Subramanian declined to disclose the revised ownership split. Yulu, the Indian mobility startup from which Yuma spun out in early 2023, held the remaining 49% and will be diluted as a result.
How Magna’s Commitment Took Shape
Magna’s involvement in the Indian electric-vehicle ecosystem began in September 2022, when it invested $25 million in Yulu Mobility and committed $52 million for a 51% controlling interest in what was then called Magna Yuma. The combined outlay of $77 million marked Magna’s entry into the Indian market; Yulu and Yuma remain its only investments in the country.
The accounting treatment at formation tells its own story about how Magna valued what it was buying. According to the Magna Q3 2022 press release, the business combination resulted in the recognition of goodwill of $20 million and intangible assets of $33 million (net), alongside fixed assets of $2 million. Yulu contributed certain assets and intellectual property for its 49% stake rather than cash. The Magna annual report SEC filing confirms the $25 million Yulu investment was recorded separately on the consolidated balance sheets.
The Magna Yuma Energy Investment Case: Gig Workers, Swap Times, and Scale
Yuma’s pitch rests on a specific friction point in India’s fast-growing delivery economy. Subramanian estimates that only about 10% to 15% of vehicles used by gig workers in the country are electric today, leaving a large addressable base if riders convert from petrol-powered machines. The argument against simply fast-charging those vehicles is practical: even a 20- or 30-minute charge takes a rider off the road and requires substantial space and power infrastructure to serve multiple vehicles simultaneously. A battery swap, Subramanian says, takes under two minutes.
‘With Indian gig workers’ high runtime on a daily basis, an EV makes absolute sense in terms of cost of ownership,’ Subramanian said. ‘Uptime is important.’
Yuma has completed more than 60 million lifetime swaps and has around 100,000 batteries deployed. The network spans more than 400 stations with over 2,500 charging units. Revenue for the financial year ended March 2026 came to approximately ₹1 billion (about $10.5 million), and the company is targeting EBITDA break-even within the next two quarters.
That is not yet profitable territory: Subramanian acknowledges the model is capital-intensive and that unit economics only work out at scale. Some of Yuma’s older stations are already EBITDA-positive, but the network as a whole is not. The fresh $35 million is earmarked mainly for infrastructure expansion and to double the battery fleet over the next 12 to 18 months.
Dependence on Yulu, which still accounts for the vast majority of Yuma’s lifetime swaps, is beginning to ease. About 15% to 20% of swaps in the latest quarter came from customers other than Yulu. Yuma now serves more than five fleets and has integrated its batteries with more than 10 vehicle platforms, including models from Kinetic Green, Motovolt, BGauss, and Quantum Energy. Non-Yulu swaps are targeted to reach 25% of the total within two years.
Yuma designs and manufactures its own battery packs (at a facility in Chennai) and charging units (in Bengaluru), giving it control over the hardware and the network management software, an unusual vertical integration for what could otherwise be a pure-services business.
The timing is not incidental. Earlier this month, Yulu raised $93 million in a Series C round led by GEF Capital Partners, a climate-focused firm that contributed $63 million in equity with $30 million in debt alongside. Notably, neither Magna nor Bajaj Auto, both existing Yulu investors, participated in that round, according to Reuters. Yulu’s fleet stood at around 50,000 vehicles at the time of the raise, with ambitions to reach 200,000 over two years. Yulu also reached positive EBITDA in April 2025, according to DealStreetAsia, and nearly doubled revenue in the financial year ended March 31, 2025, to 2.37 billion rupees ($24.84 million). That trajectory matters for Yuma: a larger Yulu fleet means more swaps, but also more pressure to keep the infrastructure ready ahead of demand arriving.
City expansion into Chennai and Pune is planned for the coming quarters, and Subramanian has identified Vietnam, Thailand, and parts of Africa as longer-term international targets because of their large two-wheeler populations. No discussions about entering those markets have begun. For now, the proof of concept has to be made, and paid for, in India first.
