Royal Brothers is a Bengaluru-based self-ride bike and scooter rental company operated by Royalbison Autorentals India Private Limited, with a franchise network across Indian cities.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Royal Brothers does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Royal Brothers in Brief

• What it is: Royal Brothers is an Indian Bike and scooter rental company based in Bengaluru.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Rents scooters, mid-segment bikes and premium motorcycles such as Royal Enfield on a self-ride basis.
• Rentals by the hour, day or month, with minimum four hours up to nine months.
• Online booking via website and app with ID and licence upload.
• Funding: About $1M to $1.28M+ (reports differ).

Royal Brothers Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Royal Brothers?

Royal Brothers operates in the Bike and scooter rental space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Royal Brothers.

• Rents scooters, mid-segment bikes and premium motorcycles such as Royal Enfield on a self-ride basis.
• Rentals by the hour, day or month, with minimum four hours up to nine months.
• Online booking via website and app with ID and licence upload.
• Claims presence in 40+ cities, partly through a franchise model.

The Origin Story of Royal Brothers

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Abhishek Chandrashekar, Akash S, Kuldip Purohit.
• Founded in 2015 after a 2014 trip to Puducherry where a poorly maintained rental bike inspired the idea.
• Started with Rs 20 lakh from friends and family used to buy five Royal Enfield bikes.
• Sources differ on the founders; one account names T N Manjunath and others (reports differ). Abhishek Chandrashekar recurs in all accounts.
• Reported to have bootstrapped and broken even within its first year.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Bike and scooter rental sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• July 2015: founded in Bengaluru.
• 2015: seed capital of Rs 1.8 crore reported.
• FY2019-20: revenue Rs 7.5 crore.
• February 2019: raised about $1M pre-Series A (mix of primary and secondary).
• February 2022: corporate minority round from Yamaha.
• March 2026: Suzuki partnership for rentals and subscriptions from 24 hours up to one year.

Royal Brothers Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• 2015: seed, Rs 1.8 crore.
• February 2019: pre-Series A, about $1M, investors including Pradeep Deviah and Amrith Prasad.
• February 2022: corporate minority round, Yamaha, amount undisclosed.

How Does Royal Brothers Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Rental fees on hourly, daily and monthly self-ride plans.
• Franchise model to become less capital intensive.
• Users can also invest in bikes through the platform per one report.
• Bikes are commercially registered and insured.

The Numbers: Royal Brothers Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY19-20: revenue Rs 7.5 crore.
• FY23: revenue Rs 22.1 crore, loss Rs 95 lakh.
• FY24: revenue Rs 38.3 crore.
• FY25: revenue Rs 46.2 crore, up about 20.5%; profit or loss not stated.

Market Opportunity for Royal Brothers

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• India's bike rental demand is driven by tourism, commuting and gig work.
• Company reports 40+ cities.

Technology and Product at Royal Brothers

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Online booking platform and app with document verification.

Team and Culture at Royal Brothers

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Abhishek Chandrashekar, co-founder and CEO.
• Kuldip Purohit and Akash S named as co-founders in some accounts.
• Inc42 data lists 139 to 175 employees (reports differ).

Royal Brothers Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Royal Brothers

• Regulation of rental two-wheelers and permits varies by state.
• Asset-heavy fleet and theft or damage risk.
• Franchise quality control.
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Royal Brothers Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Revenue is growing about 20% year on year.
• OEM partnerships (Yamaha, Suzuki) and franchise expansion drive growth.
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Royal Brothers can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Royal Brothers Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Royal Brothers

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Royal Brothers.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Royal Brothers

Studying a company in the Bike and scooter rental space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Royal Brothers.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Royal Brothers as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Royal Brothers name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Royal Brothers is part of India’s growing Bike and scooter rental ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Royal Brothers FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Royal Brothers?

Royal Brothers is a Bengaluru-based self-ride bike and scooter rental company operated by Royalbison Autorentals India Private Limited, with a franchise network across Indian cities. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Royal Brothers?

Royal Brothers was founded by Abhishek Chandrashekar, Akash S, Kuldip Purohit, and the company reports a founding year of 2015.

How much funding has Royal Brothers raised?

About $1M to $1.28M+ (reports differ). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Royal Brothers make money?

Royal Brothers earns revenue from its Bike and scooter rental products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Royal Brothers?

Reported rivals include Chartered Bike, ONN Bikes, RenTrip, Onepoint Bike Services. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Royal Brothers?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.