Electric vehicle (EV) charging platform ElectricPe, which enables users to discover charging points, has raised $3 million (Rs 225 crore) in a seed round led by Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund. The company plans to use the funds to further develop its technology platform, thus enabling easy access to charging points via the ElectricPe App, it said in a statement.
Angel investors Anshuman Bapna of Terra.do, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, Arjun Ravi Sheth of Anchorage Capital Partners, Ashish Goel of Urban Ladder, Bhuvan Gupta of OfBusiness, Jasminder Singh of Nowfloats, Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar of Whatfix, among others, also participated in the round, the company said.
“With rising fuel prices and favourable government incentives, the EV revolution has already begun, and our vision is to enable affordable and clean charging for all,” said Avinash Sharma, co-founder and chief executive officer, ElectriPe.
The company was founded in May this year by Sharma and Raghav Rohila, former Ola executives with experience in the field of electric mobility. The platform caters to all original equipment manufacturers, the company said.
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.
ElectricPe expects India to have more than 5 million public charging stations across the country and aims to collaborate with companies providing charging facilities, thus addressing drivers’ range anxiety, the company said.
“It is also a catch-22 situation as charging infrastructure providers won't invest unless they see demand, and consumers won't buy vehicles until they see the infrastructure. ElectricPe is looking to disrupt the market by bridging this gap,” said Arpit Agarwal, Director, Blume Ventures.
Blume Ventures recently invested in blue-collar workforce management platform Smartstaff, while Mecilio backed a mobility and electric vehicle technology startup Cell Propulsion raised $2 Million in a debt and equity round from existing investors.
