The archive · Money & Fintech · Financial decision · 2020–2025
Ohm Daily's EV-financing bet: five years of pivots, then a 2025 shutdown
Antler-backed Ohm Daily used IoT data to get lenders to finance EV drivers in India, then shut down in July 2025 after five years and multiple pivots.
Ohm Daily
What the business is
EV financing and lending startup connecting EV drivers, fleet operators and manufacturers with banks and NBFCs, using IoT data from vehicles to reduce lending risk.
Starting capital：INR 3 Cr pre-seed led by Antler India, with Blume Founders Fund and angels including Kunal Shah; about INR 5 Cr raised in total
How it started
Nikhil Nair founded Ohm Mobility in Bengaluru in 2020 to fix financing and infrastructure gaps in India's electric mobility ecosystem. The startup connected EV fleet operators, manufacturers and battery companies with banks and financial institutions, using EV IoT data to lower the risk lenders saw. Nikhil Saigal, formerly of Onfido, joined as co-founder and CBO in 2022.
What happened
Ohm enabled financing for thousands of EV users and worked with institutions such as IDFC, EvFin, Bike Bazaar and Ecofy. It raised an INR 3 Cr pre-seed led by Antler India with Blume Founders Fund and angels including CRED founder Kunal Shah, joined Microsoft for Startups, and acquired Nagpur-based CloudNBFC to strengthen its loan management stack. In 2024 it rebranded as Ohm Daily, pivoting to micro financial products for gig workers and auto drivers.
How it ended up
In July 2025, after five years, co-founder and CEO Nikhil Nair announced Ohm Daily was winding down, saying the company had not 'cracked the model that could scale and sustain.' Inc42 reported that Ohm had failed to scale despite numerous pivots and had not filed financial statements with the MCA for any financial year. Nair said salaries had been paid on time every month and that he and Saigal planned to build a new venture.
Background
Ohm Mobility was founded in Bengaluru in 2020 by Nikhil Nair to fix a financing gap: EV drivers and fleet operators in India could not get credit because lenders could not price the risk. Ohm connected fleets, manufacturers and battery companies with banks and NBFCs, using IoT data from the vehicles themselves to make lending safer, and enabled financing for thousands of drivers.
The startup raised an INR 3 crore pre-seed led by Antler India, with Blume Founders Fund and angels including CRED founder Kunal Shah, joined Microsoft for Startups, and bought Nagpur-based CloudNBFC to build out loan management. It worked with lenders and partners such as IDFC, EvFin, Bike Bazaar and Ecofy. In 2024 it rebranded to Ohm Daily and pivoted to micro financial products for daily earners — gig workers and auto drivers.
In July 2025, after five years, CEO Nikhil Nair announced the company was winding down, saying it had not 'cracked the model that could scale and sustain.' Inc42 noted Ohm had failed to scale despite numerous pivots and had never filed financial statements with the MCA. Nair stressed that salaries had been paid on time every month, and said he and co-founder Nikhil Saigal planned to build a new venture with the lessons.
What has to be true
- Ohm's bet was that IoT risk data would unlock credit for EV drivers, but the model never reached the scale or unit economics lenders required.
- Multiple pivots — from fleet financing to daily-earner micro-loans — changed the packaging without changing the underlying constraint.
- With only about INR 5 Cr raised and no MCA filings, the startup had no buffer to survive a model that did not scale.
- The founders framed the shutdown as a learning exit: salaries paid, partners supported, and a new venture planned.
What can be applied
If the real product is convincing lenders, pivoting packaging won't fix unit economics: Ohm kept the data story but never made the model profitable enough to scale.
Aftermath
As of late July 2025, Ohm Daily was winding down operations in India. Co-founder and CEO Nikhil Nair said the team had paid salaries on time every month, and that he and co-founder Nikhil Saigal intended to focus on building a new venture. The Antler-backed pre-seed and the CloudNBFC acquisition were part of a five-year run that ended without a profitable, scalable model.
Sources
- Antler, Kunal Shah-backed EV financing startup Ohm Daily shuts down
- Now, EV Startup Ohm Mobility Shuts Operations
- Ohm Daily Shuts Down After Five-Year Run in EV Financing and Micro-Lending Space
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