Rapid charging startup Exponent Energy, on Thursday, said that it has raised $26.4 million (around Rs 220 crore) in a Series B funding round led by global investment firm Eight Roads Ventures.
The transaction also saw Japan-based TDK Corporation’s corporate venture capital arm TDK Ventures picking a strategic stake in the company, marking its first investment in India’s electric vehicle space.
Additionally, all existing investors, including Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, and the family office of Hero Moto’s Pawan Munjal, participated in the round.
Exponent Energy plans to use the funds to scale its presence to five new cities by the end of the financial year 2024. It is also planning to expand its offerings in the electric three-wheeler space as well as enter the intercity electric bus segment in the calendar year 2024. It is aiming to deploy 1,000 electric charging stations and have 25,000 EVs powered by Exponent by 2025, the company said in a statement.
Arun Vinayak, co-founder and chief executive officer at Exponent Energy, said that the company is set to scale operations from battery manufacturing to on-ground network presence across categories and cities and simplify the broken energy ecosystem at scale.
“Exponent’s focus on the Indian commercial vehicle space is an opportunity which constitutes 10% of vehicles but consumes 70% of the on-road energy, with more vehicles transitioning to electric over the next few years,” said Aditya Systla, partner at Eight Roads Ventures.
Founded by Ather Energy’s former executives Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal, Exponent Energy provides quick EV charging solutions. It claims that its solution can charge an electric battery from 0 to 100% in 15 minutes and unlock a 3,000-cycle life warranty using regular Li-ion cells.
The company has partnerships with OEMs to integrate its electric pack to create a rapid charging variant and sets up a network of electric charging stations for end users operating in logistics to charge their Exponent-powered EVs.
The three-year-old Bengaluru-based startup has raised $44.4 Million in total so far. It had last raised $13 million (around Rs 102 crore) in its Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and participated by YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital and AdvantEdge VC.
“Exponent's journey with 3one4 Capital from seed to Series B underscores the effectiveness of the firm's thesis-driven work and our hands-on approach. Our goal is to maximise the odds of success for our portfolio companies, and achieving successful fundraising serves as a significant validation of the company’s progress,” said Pranav Pai, founding partner and chief investment officer, 3One4 Capital.
