News, 5 February 2026
Indian electric mobility startup Drivn has attracted a financing commitment of up to $80 million from Nomura, one of Japan’s global financial services groups, marking a significant boost for commercial electric vehicle expansion in India. This investment, still subject to final documentation and customary conditions, is aimed at accelerating Drivn’s mission to transition long-distance buses and heavy trucks from diesel to electric power sectors that have historically faced barriers due to high costs and operational risk.
Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Gurugram, Drivn operates on a full-stack model where it buys, owns, and leases electric commercial vehicles to operators under long-term contracts. The fresh capital from Nomura will support the company’s Phase 1 deployment plan, which targets rolling out approximately 1,000 electric buses and trucks by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027, with initial operations expected to begin as early as February 2026. As part of the effort, Drivn has inked memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with a range of partners including vehicle manufacturers, logistics operators, charging infrastructure providers, and maintenance service firms to ensure coordinated deployment, fleet reliability, and efficient charging solutions.
Drivn’s approach blends asset ownership with data-driven operations, aiming to improve uptime, charging readiness and lifecycle performance for heavy EV fleets. The company also aligns its strategy with national policies like FAME-India and PM-eBus Sewa, which promote electric mobility adoption and infrastructure build-out. From an emissions perspective, the focus on heavy commercial transport holds high potential for reducing carbon output in logistics, construction, and industrial sectors. Nomura has welcomed Drivn’s infrastructure-oriented model as a scalable solution with long-term impact on India’s net-zero vehicle goals and a promising opportunity for infrastructure-grade investment returns.
This development underscores growing investor confidence in electrifying heavy transport — a crucial frontier for decarbonization and clean mobility in one of the world’s fastest-growing EV markets.
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