Saurav Kumar quits high-paying job to found his own company

How many of us have the courage to sacrifice a high-paying job to start our own business? We know the answer – only a few. Saurav Kumar is one these few people who dared to dream.

About Saurav’s Education & Career

Saurav completed his primary education in Jankinagar village in Purnia, Bihar. He is the son of a teacher, Om Prakash Yadav. After finishing his primary education, Saurav was awarded a scholarship by Sulabh, a company run by Bindeshwar Pathak.

In 1995, he took admission in class VI at DPS, RK Puram in Delhi’s RK Puram. He passed his 12^th standard board exam in 2005 and got admission to Delhi College of Engineering in the same year.

Saurav was always inquisitive and innovative. While pursuing engineering, he developed an autonomous ground vehicle. DSIR funded his project. His innovation earned him the Young Entrepreneur Award from CII.

After receiving his B. Tech degree from DCE, Saurav completed the INRIA Grenoble Rhone Alpes Research Internship in France. During the time, he worked on a project that could help reduce roadside accidents. The project was about the next generation driving assistance system.

Saurav moved to the USA for higher studies. He got admission to Cornell University in New York for doing a master’s program in 2010-11.

During the same period, he started working as a software developer in reputed companies like Yahoo and Oracle who offered him an annual salary package of around $150,000 (Rs 1,06,30,575).

There, he specialised in computer vision and machine learning. While studying in the USA, Saurav designed an autonomous underwater vehicle and received appreciation from the Office of Naval Research, USA.

He got a high-paying job in America. However, Saurav always wanted to settle in India. He decided to quit his job and return home. He wanted to do something in India.

Launching Own Company

In 2021, Saurav launched his tech company Cube26. He got funding from Flipkart and Tiger Global. Cube26 worked on tailor-made Android applications for multiple platforms and devices to deliver better user experience.

However, he had to part his ways with the company in 2011 as Paytm bought it. Saurav decided to explore new opportunities.

Next Step

The Government of India took a strong step in 2018 to promote e-vehicles. Led by NITI Aayog, the Central Government made rules in this regard. The GOI announced huge subsidies and support for e-vehicle.

Sarav wanted to utilise the opportunity and launched Oiler Motor in 2018. By that time, several reputed companies had invested in passenger EVs or planned for it.

However, the market was not still ready to welcome commercial EV. Hence, Saurab decided to work on battery-powered commercial vehicles. According to Saurav, most of the commercial EVs in the Indian market were not strong. If goods are loaded in the basement, a battery-powered vehicle cannot pull it.

Saurav designed a powerful small commercial EV on a trial basis. Euler Motors was running a pilot project in Delhi-NCR. By then, Saurav’s company had developed more than 300 vehicles. Saurav decided to handle all these vehicles for a number of companies like Big Basket, Ecom Express, Milk Basket, BlueDart, Udan etc.

At present, Euler Motor has an order of 2500+ vehicles. In the up-and-coming festive season, its official launching in the market is highly likely.

On a single charge, Euler’s electric-powered vehicle can travel up to 100 km. All EV auto rickshaws have a payload capacity of 500 kg and are powered by a 5.76 kWh lithium-ion Samsung battery.

As per the company’s claim, the battery of these rickshaws will have a lifespan of 3-4 years. Euler Motors has created job opportunities for more than 600 people. It is currently valued at $ 30 million or Rs 2.21 billion.

Funding and Future Plans

The company has raised $11.6 million in funding from the likes of ADB ventures, Capital India, Jetty Ventures, Emergent Ventures, Andrew Lee, Udaan, Blume Ventures, Sujeet Kumar and Srinivas Anumolu,.

Saura has a plan to expand his company and is meeting with many e-commerce companies as well as logistic providers for that purpose.

He wants to expand his business to the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in India. He is also planning to provide a vehicle subscription scheme. His company will rent out the e-vehicles in other metro cities in the immediate future.

Credits to Father

This is an inspiring success story of a man who sacrificed his high-paying job in America to found a new company in his country and create job opportunities for others. He feels indebted to his father who has always supported his son and encouraged him to go with his innovative ideas.