Charge+Zone, an electric vehicle (EV) charging startup, has raised $10 million (around Rs 75 crore) in a bridge funding round with the participation of Venture Catalysts and other undisclosed investors, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Charge+Zone said it is also planning to raise Series A funding worth $50 million (around Rs 375 crore) in 2022. These funds will be used for a direct current (DC) charging network and battery swapping networks for electric buses, electric cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers.
Founded in 2018, Charge+Zone is operated by Tecso Charge Zone Pvt Ltd, and specialises in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) charging services for both dedicated and opportunity-based charging, using a smart-grid network, the statement said.
"With the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME)-II scheme, positive government regulations and clarity on EV charging protocols, we have already commenced the distribution of AC-Type2 EV Charging network as well as intercity Fast DC charging networks for the 1500 new points over the next 150 days,” said Kartikey Hariyani, CEO and Co-Founder, Charge+Zone.
Recently, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has initiated national flagship schemes such as FAME India II scheme, National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for automobile and auto components. These schemes are sanctioned by the government with a total outlay of Rs 54,038 crore.
Demand for electric charging stations in India has been on the rise with more automobile companies making forays into the EV segment. To cash in on the rising demand, companies like Reliance Industries and Tata Power, among others, have started installing charging stations aggressively. Some companies that invested in the EV sector in 2020 and this year include Ohm Mobility, aerial mobility firm The ePlane Company, and electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy.
Founded in 2016, Venture Catalysts claims to be Asia’s largest integrated incubator. It offers funding, mentorship, and network, and invests $250K – $1.5 million (around Rs 1.87 crore- Rs 11 crore) in early-stage startups with incubation support for one year. It has successfully incubated start-ups like Fynd, Beardo, PeeSafe, Innov8, vPhrase, Supr, DSYH, among others.
It has more than 3000 angel investors and is spread across 11 cities in three countries including India, Hong Kong and Qatar. Marquee investors such as YCombinator, Greenoaks, Axis Capital, Alpha Capital, Rocketship, FJ Labs have co-invested with Venture Catalysts.
Recently, Ykrita Life Sciences (YLS) raised a sum of $1.2 million (around Rs 9 crore) in the seed funding round led by Venture Catalysts.
Last month, the platform invested in online B2B logistics firm DCGPac.com.