2024 TOTMs: Aravind Mani Wins Jagdish Khattar Rising Star Award

The River Indie challenged the status quo of the EV market.

Aravind Mani Wins Jagdish Khattar Rising Star Award

Kunal Khattar (Right) presents the 2024 Jagdish Khattar Rising Star TOTM to Aravind Mani, CEO and Co-founder of River.

For creating an innovative product and taking a bold decision to make a utilitarian scooter aspirational, Aravind Mani, CEO and Co-founder of River rightly deserves the coveted 2024 Acko Drive Awards' Jagdish Khattar Rising Star Award. 

River is among  India’s youngest EV startups founded in 2021 and has a manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Aravind has over a decade of experience and led a distinguished career in which he handled various roles as a commercial leader and business strategy professional in various industries including auto. 

(Also Read: Yamaha Invests $ 40 Mn (₹ 332 Cr) in Indian EV Brand River Mobility)

Unlike other EV brands present in the market, River created a distinctive product like the Indie, dubbed as the SUV of scooters. The core idea being to deliver a product that’s utilitarian while being appealing as well. The impressive bit is that the Indie went from design into production within 2 years. River recently received $40 million from Yamaha Motor Corporation, Japan and in this short time period, has raised over $ 65 million in funding. For creating an innovative product and taking a bold decision to make a utilitarian scooter aspirational, Aravind Mani rightly deserves the award.