Electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions startup BrightBlu has raised $1.6 million (around Rs 12 crore) from Dutch (Netherlands) clean energy conglomerate Koolen Industries, the company said in a statement.
The Mumbai-based startup is setting up a new high-tech research and development centre in Pune and it plans to deploy the fresh capital to hire talent and create new charging technologies. It will also utilise the fund for research and development of both plug-and-charge and vehicle-to-grid solutions.
"We need to transition to a clean energy future and enable the adoption of sustainable transportation through the use of electric vehicles. Our products are a part of the solution. Our current strategy with onboarding a strong and focused new shareholder creates momentum for our vision to become a global supplier of high quality intelligent charging solutions that accelerate the global adoption of electric vehicles,” said Wybren van der Vaart, co-founder and CEO, BrightBlu.
Last year, BrightBlu raised $200,000 (around Rs 1.5 crore) from former CEO of NewMotion Sytse Zuidema, former global head of charging at Tesla Jelle Vastert and E156 Ventures B.V.
BrightBlu was formed in 2019, after the merger of Asia Electric, an EV charging solutions company and DrivAMP, a smart charging technology provider.
Founded by Wybren van der Vaart, Santoshram Somasundaram, Saket Anandakrishnan and Yash Chitalia, BrightBlu provides charging solutions consisting of hardware, cloud-enabled services and support for drivers of electric vehicles and charging station owners. It caters to the Indian and European markets.
Entrepreneur and investor Kees Koolen founded Koolen Industries in 2019 to invest in cleantech companies and enables its group companies to perform and co-create.
Last month, another EV platform Oben Electric, operated by Oben Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd, raised $1 million (around Rs 7 crore) from Krishna Bhupal, Board Member of GVK Power & Infra and Shajikumar Devakar, Executive Director IIFL Wealth, along with other investors.
Ola Electric also raised $200 million days before its co-founder and chief executive, Bhavish Aggarwal posted the first official image of its EV concept car.
