BLU Smart Mobility Pvt Ltd, which operates electric taxi-hailing and riding platform BluSmart, has raised more pre-Series A funding worth $7 million (Rs 51 crore).
Participants in this round include Inflection Point (IP) Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Suman Kant Munjal family office Survam Partners, Mumbai Angels, Chhattisgarh Investments Ltd, JITO Angel Network, LetsVenture, and Centrum Group-sponsored Kalpavriksh Fund.
In a statement, BluSmart said it will use the capital for expanding the car fleet on its platform, as well as setting up more charging infrastructure, enhancing its own technology and expanding its geographical reach.
The company was set up last year by Punit K Goyal and Anmol Singh Jaggi, among others.
The company says it offers reliable and affordable electric taxis to consumers in the Delhi-National Capital Region. It is also building an all-electric ecosystem through partnerships with companies in the automotive, infrastructure and energy spaces.
“We are optimistic that our investment will help the startup embark on its next phase of growth and change the dynamics of electric-vehicle infrastructure in the country,” Venture Catalysts president and co-founder Apoorva Ranjan Sharma said.
Goyal said the company’s platform will also help in reducing environmental pollution caused by combustion model-based vehicles.
The fundraising announcement by BluSmart comes after reports last month said that the firm had raised Rs 37 crore (nearly $5 million) in its pre-Series A funding round.
In September last year, the company raised $3 million (around Rs 21 crore) in an angel funding round from several investors including Ka Innovations LLP, the family office of actor Deepika Padukone.
Other participants in that round included JITO Angel Network, Bajaj Capital managing director Sanjiv Bajaj and Rajat Gupta, former managing director of management consultancy firm McKinsey.
At the time, the company said it was also in talks to raise $25 million (around Rs 177 crore) in a Series A round and that it had appointed Centrum Capital as the adviser for the planned funding.
