Mark Mobius invests in engineering start-up Entropy Innovations

Mumbai: Investment guru Mark Mobius has invested an undisclosed sum as angel capital in Mumbai-based engineering start-up Entropy Innovations. [caption id=“attachment_1045817” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mark Mobius. Reuters[/caption] Venture capital firm, ah! Ventures and AdvantEdge Incubator also participated in the fund-raising, Entropy Innovations said in a statement today. The deal was solely advised and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its private equity investment platform, CLUBah.com, it added. Founded in early 2013 by IIT and IIM alumni, Entropy Innovations has designed and manufactured an automatic motorcycle wash machine – ‘Express Bike Wash’. With this round of funding, Entropy looks forward to increase its team size in key areas for a nationwide presence in both these segments. Starting with a few retail touch-points in Mumbai under the name ‘The EBW Store’ and a few installations at service centres, the brand has catered to roughly 100,000 motorcycles over the last eighteen months, it said. Going ahead, the team has identified this B2C segment lucrative enough for scaling exponentially via a franchise model, the company said. “More than 15 million new motorcycles were added nationally last year. There are barely any organised players for wash and related value added services. Through ‘The EBW Store’ we wish to bridge this gap at an affordable price, faster service rate and with an ease of accessibility to the retail customers,” co-founder of Entropy Niraj Taksande said. Additionally, the firm remains environment friendly owing to some of the unique machine features, he added. Petrol pumps, malls, corporate parks, societies are the potential B2C target areas, Taksande said. “We see a huge potential at captive areas like petrol pumps. These markets have an analogy in foreign markets where pumps have an automated car washer,” co-founder of Entropy Jigar Vora added. PTI