A startup from Kashmir has logged 90,000 electric bike rides and crossed one million kilometers of clean travel, all while chasing a problem most transit planners ignore: the short trip. Curve Electric now wants to take its homegrown shared mobility model to university campuses and metro hubs across India.
India’s electric two-wheeler market keeps accelerating. Sales hit 11,49,334 units in FY2024-25, a 21 percent jump from the previous year, according to Ministry of Heavy Industries data. Government incentives like the PM E-Drive scheme continue pushing adoption. Meanwhile, NITI Aayog has highlighted shared mobility as a lever for improving vehicle utilization and cutting emissions. IMARC projects India’s electric two-wheeler market will reach 12.26 million units by 2034.
Curve Electric targets a different slice of that market. Founded in 2022 by Sheikh Yameen and Zubair Ahmad Bhat, the Srinagar-based company launched Kashmir’s first public e-bike sharing network. The initial rollout placed 50 bicycles across 11 docking stations. Since then, the startup has expanded into campus mobility, premium e-bike sales, fleet management, EV servicing, conversion kits, and advertising.
Yameen described the founding philosophy as a quadruple bottom line: profits balanced with people, planet, and pulse. Both founders completed MBAs and chose entrepreneurship over conventional jobs after watching tourists, students, and commuters struggle with expensive or fuel-dependent short trips.
Building trust proved difficult early on. Electric bicycles were unfamiliar to many potential users in Kashmir. The company leaned on demonstrations, pilot projects, exhibitions, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Bhat acknowledged that focused execution became a hard lesson after the team initially chased too many opportunities at once.
The startup has raised Rs 64.55 lakh in external funding, split between Rs 32.35 lakh in equity and Rs 32.20 lakh in debt. Its first equity investment came at a $1 million valuation. Annual turnover now sits near Rs 70 lakh with a 25-person team serving roughly 35,000 customers.
Institutional partnerships now anchor Curve Electric’s expansion strategy. The company has signed memoranda with BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, IIT Bombay, Lovely Professional University, and Hyderabad Metro Rail. Pilot deployments and testing have already begun with these partners.
The founders claim the business has helped avoid more than 200 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Curve Electric’s next five years will focus on scaling its campus mobility platform, developing connected fleet technologies, and entering smart cities, corporate campuses, and tourist destinations beyond Jammu and Kashmir.
