Chennai-headquartered electric vehicle start-up Raptee has announced that Jayapradeep V, has joined it as the new Chief Business Officer. He comes with over 25 years of experience and has worked with Royal Enfield for 15 years as the Business Head for India and SAARC region. He is credited with leading Royal Enfield’s premium distribution and contributing towards the company’s market share of over 25 percent in the above 150cc segment in India.
In his new role, Jayapradeep will focus on establishing the start-up as a premium motorcycle across the two-wheeler category. He will also focus on designing and delivering the customer experience for effortless ownership, strategise and creating a network across India and global markets. He will also provide strategic support to the overall organisational development.
Dinesh Arjun, Founder, CEO, Raptee said, “JP joins Raptee just as we reach a critical inflection point. We are transitioning from being a small technology outfit to an OEM. We intend to build a brand that does justice to the state-of-the-art tech that the team at Raptee has built over the last three years. I believe JP brings the experience of building an excellent motorcycle brand and the understanding of how crucial it is to accomplish so while being frugal and lean. Moreover, with senior leadership, cultural fit is extremely important, and his MO of being very hands-on and working at ground zero is very much in line with how we work at Raptee.”
The start-up aims to offer its customers a premium experience with cutting-edge technology products and passionate people to make mobility effortless, smart and safe.
The company says prior to joining Raptee, Jayapradeep led several strategic initiatives at Royal Enfield and was instrumental in developing the network expansion strategy. He led a sizable portion of the dealer expansion drive, including the studio format expansion.
“India being the major player in the global auto industry, the Indian two-wheeler segment has to lead the transformation to the EV segment to create a global impact. While the EV penetration in the scooter segment has crossed 10 percent and is growing, the EV penetration in the motorcycle segment, which is almost 2 times of the scooter segment, is yet to see any traction, with not many players in the segment. This brings Raptee an opportunity to be the leader in the EV transformation by offering technologically advanced motorcycles with first-of-its-kind features in E2W and helping consumers upgrade from their ICE to EV effortlessly,” said Jayapradeep.
The start-up aims to launch its range of electric motorcycles by end-2023. It envisions setting up its first plant near Chennai.