Battery Smart raises USD 7 mn in pre-Series A funding round

EV battery swapping network Battery Smart on Tuesday said it has raised USD 7 million (around Rs 52 crore) in a pre-Series A round from a clutch of investors of Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures.

The fresh capital will be deployed for strengthening the startup's battery assignment technology, scale its operations to service 10,000 electric vehicles daily, and expand to three new states by this fiscal, a release said.

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The other investors who participated in the pre-Series A round include Green Frontier Capital, Baring Private Equity India, and angel investors such as Srinivas Anumolu (Founder - Elance, TutorVista, Bigbasket, Bluestone), K Ganesh (Serial Entrepreneur & Partner - GrowthStory.In), Niraj Singh, (Founder and CEO - Spinny), and Amit Bhasin (Co-Founder - GoMechanic), it said.

Besides, alternative debt platform TradeCred, India's leading alternative debt also participated as a debt partner with Rs 24 crore investment, the startup said in a release.

Co-founded by serial entrepreneurs and IIT-Kanpur graduates Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart has over 100 swap stations operational in the Delhi-NCR region.

The company currently has 1,200 active vehicles on its platform and completes 5,000 swaps daily.

Battery Smart's battery-as-a-service model enables interoperable battery swapping for electric vehicles (EVs) in under two minutes and reduces the up-front investment borne by a consumer by up to 60 per cent, it said, adding, the company said it has completed 3-lakh battery swaps till date.

"Battery swapping addresses major deterrents to EV adoption like range anxiety, high up-front costs, and long downtimes. The funds raised will help us expand our presence pan-India, strengthen our technology, and make key hires," said Khurana.

Given the excellent product-market fit for Battery Smart in the e-rickshaw and fleet segment, Blume Ventures believe that the right player to win the market will be the one who is able to expand the fastest, said Arpit Agarwal, Director, Blume Ventures.

After the COVID second wave, Battery Smart has grown more than 10x and continues to grow at a very rapid pace to currently service more than 1000 electric two and three-wheelers daily, he added.

"The Battery Smart team has demonstrated that they can create not only a capital-efficient, profitable business model but also deliver large scale ESG impact in the country. This is a rare achievement that very few businesses can claim at this time," said Anup Jain, Managing Partner, Orios Ventures.

He added that their asset-light tech-enabled business model has brought down costs and increased supply in public-shared mobility for low-income consumers and, for companies using last-mile EV-based logistics. With rising fossil-fuel prices and global focus on net-zero emissions, their model helps in delivering our commitment to climate change with the lowest net-new resources added.

"With over 2-lakh EVs in just the NCR region, there is no better time to invest in India's electric mobility revolution. We are impressed by Battery Smart's ability to grow 100 per cent every month, and we are keen to be a part of its fast-moving journey," said Hardik Shah, Founder and CEO, TradeCred.

The platform is targeting a USD 17-billion swapping market by 2025 by aiming to have a swapping station at every one square km area, according to the release.