Battery swapping network platform for electric two and three-wheelers Battery Smart, on Thursday, said that it has raised pre-Series B funding of $33 million (around Rs 272 crore) from a host of existing and new investors.
Existing investors Tiger Global and Blume Ventures also invested in the round, while The Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) and British International Investment (BII) joined as new backers.
Battery Smart plans to use the fresh capital to onboard one lakh customers to its network as it expands its geographic footprint, the company said in a statement.
“With 25,000 active customers across tier 1, 2 and 3 cities, we are keen to reinforce our ESG (environmental, social, and governance) objectives while supporting India’s pursuit towards net-zero emissions,” said Pulkit Khurana, co-founder and chief executive officer, Battery Smart.
Prior to this, Battery Smart raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global, along with participation from Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures in June last year. The company claims that since its last funding round, it has witnessed a 6x growth in its revenue and customer base. In November last year, the company had raised $9 million in debt financing from Stride Ventures.
Founded in 2019 by IIT-Kanpur alumni, Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart offers battery-as-a-service, which enables interoperable battery swapping for two and three-wheeler EVs in under two minutes and reduces the up-front investment borne by a consumer.
It currently operates a battery-swapping network of more than 600 swap stations across 25 cities. It claims that it has completed more than 12 million battery swaps to date.
India’s electric vehicle market is projected to reach a market size of $113.99 billion by 2029, as per a November 2022 report by Fortune Business Insights. As a result, the electric vehicle segment has witnessed an impressive amount of funding despite a broader slowdown in the startup ecosystem.
For instance, last month, EV startup Oben Electric raised $4.8 million in its extended pre-Series A funding round from Stride Ventures and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Mumbai Angels and existing investors We Founders Circle, Kalvani Family Office and US India EV Angels.
The same month also saw homegrown electric vehicle manufacturer River bagging $15 million (Rs 123 crore) in a funding round led by Dubai-based multinational powerhouse Al Futtaim Group.
