LOHUM Pre Series C Funding: $15M Raise

Battery recycling and sustainable energy-tech startup LOHUM is already preparing to enter its next stage of growth as it readies to raise Rs 131.4 crore (around 15 million dollars) in a pre-Series C round. Growth I9 Opportunity LLP will lead the LOHUM pre series C funding round, with the participation of other strong investors such as Baring Private Equity, Singularity Growth and Asiana Fund among others.

Source: Entrackr

This new capital is only several months following the $54 million Series B funding earned by the company in March 2024, which indicates favorable investor belief in the business model and fast-growing business of LOHUM.

LOHUM’s board approved the issuance of 748 pre-Series C CCPS at an issue price of Rs 17,56,714 each. The growth i9 opportunity llp will come in with 31.8 crore, Baring private equity will come in with 25.12 crore, Samriddhi Sehgal will come in with 13.35 crore, Asiana fund will come in with 12.12 crore, Rainbow investments and a pool of 18 angel investors.

The company will use the new funds for capital expenditure, marketing, and other corporate purposes. Entrackr estimates LOHUM’s post-money valuation at Rs 4,265 crore (approximately $485 million).

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LOHUM was founded in 2018 and creates next-gen lithium-ion mobility and energy solutions. Which provide batteries with several life cycles by way of repurposing and recycling. The company boasts of being among the biggest manufacturers of sustainable energy-transition materials. In India with its system of ecosystems of battery recycling, raw-material refining and reuse.

To date, LOHUM has already collected more than 120 million dollars. With the support of such large investors as Baring Equity, Singularity Growth, and Cactus Partners. The Delhi-based startup has also presented good financial results. The year-on-year growth in operating revenue reached 72 percent. Reaching a high of Rs 529 crore in FY 24, and profits increased. More than 3 times, reaching Rs 28 crore.

The recent pre-Series C infusion positions LOHUM to expand its recycling capacity, strengthen its supply chain, and accelerate India’s shift to cleaner energy.

EaseMyTrip (EMT), the online travel agent, experienced a decrease in revenues during Q2 FY26, with ₹118 3 crore in operating revenue and a net loss of 36 3 crore. EaseMyTrip Q2 FY26 results show that the online travel agent (EMT) experienced a decrease in revenues during Q2 FY26, reporting ₹118.3 crore in operating revenue and a net loss of ₹36.3 crore. This marks a sharp contrast to the profit of ₹26.8 crore in the same quarter last year, highlighting the challenges the company faces in its core business amid rising costs.

Image Source: Entrackr

Revenue Decline Driven by Air Ticketing Drop

The air ticketing that generates most of the revenue of EaseMyTrip dropped to 72 crore, a year on year decline of 22 percent. Hotel and holiday packages also added 32 crore which is approximately 27% of the total revenue. The company made more money by other sources but made a total income of 126.5 crores during the quarter which was less than 150 crores in Q2 FY25.

Rising Costs Push Company Into Loss

EaseMyTrip had growth expenses of 67% YoY, largely as a result of increment in employee, service and advertisement costs. Spending on employees went up by a fixed margin of 24% to ₹31.crore. Another exceptional item of the company that also contributed to the quarterly loss was an exceptional item of 51 crore about a General Sales Agent (GSA) agreement with an airline under UDAAN scheme.

Image Source: Entrackr

Non-Air and International Business Growth

Although the setback was experienced, certain segments reported encouraging growth:

• Hotel and holiday bookings shot up by 93% YoY, which suggested good momentum with non-air verticals.
• There was a 16 percent growth in the number of bookings of train, bus, and mobility services.
• Global growth, particularly in Dubai, was a strength: gross booking income increased over 3 times to 361.7 decision-making.

This early success can be attributed to the fact that EaseMyTrip is successful in its EMT 2.0 strategy to diversify its revenue collected by flights.

Operational Resilience Shows Through EBITDA

Net profit became negative, EBITDA has increased sequentially by 76.3% to 12.1 crore (with a margin of 9.6). It means that its revenue pressures are not hurting its operational efficiency implying that it will become profitable provided cost management is maintained.

Strategic Moves and Leadership Changes

EaseMyTrip will keep investing in growth and infrastructure:

• Purchased half of a hotel in London and 100 per cent of a Gurugram commercial property.
• Enhanced management that has a new CTO and CMO.
• Consented to a purchase of 514 crore of preferred equity shares by non-promoters.

These activities are in line with the vision of the company to develop a complete stack travel platform to cover hotels, holidays and international markets.

Looking Ahead

The Q2 FY26 performance of EaseMyTrip is a mixed story, with a decline in the core business and one-time losses counterbalanced by an increase in the non-air vertical and international market. In case the company is able to maintain these high-margin segments and control the expenses, the long-term prospects of profitability are still optimistic on the negative note.