Electric mobility solutions provider Magenta Mobility has raised $22 million (around Rs 180 crore) as part of a Series A1 funding from Morgan Stanley’s India-focussed infrastructure fund and oil & gas major bp's venture capital arm.
Of the total equity investment, Morgan Stanley and bp Ventures infused $11 million each into Magenta, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
“The fresh proceeds will be deployed to scale up the number of electric vehicles from 750 to 4,000 by 31 March, 2024. We are currently operating in seven cities, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad and Mumbai. We will be adding eight more soon, along with ramping our tech capabilities,” Maxson Lewis, founder and managing director at Magenta Mobility told VCCircle.
The Mumbai-based company, which counts Jito Angel Network and LetsVenture as among its investors, claims to have grown 5x year-on-year since it was set up in 2018.
Founded by Lewis and Darryl Dias, Magenta Mobility offers integrated electric mobility solutions including electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and software. It has close to 35 customers currently which include BigBasket, Udaan, Flipkart and Amazon.
Magenta Mobility is bp Ventures' second investment in India after ride-hailing startup BluSmart Electric Mobility.
In 2021, BluSmart raised Series A funding of $25 million led by the venture capital arm of bp, who invested $13 million. Other investors in the round included Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Survam Partners, amongst existing investors.
“This is bp’s first venture-led entry into India’s last-mile delivery market and the second in India’s electric mobility sector. We see this investment as an opportunity to further advance decarbonizing mobility,” said Sashi Mukundan, president, bp India and senior vice president, bp, in a statement.
Shyamsundar Gurumoorthy, managing director and co-head of Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure, said, “In terms of market opportunity, there are tailwinds supporting EV adoption by large customers in their supply chain both for economic and sustainability reasons.”
Last month, VCCircle reported that Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Unison Enviro Pvt. Ltd, a 51% subsidiary of roads developer Ashoka Buildcon Ltd, to gas distribution company Mahanagar Gas Ltd.
Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure is the India infrastructure investing platform of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. It began fundraising in 2016 with a targeted corpus of $750 million.
The fund, whose term is set to end by 2028, hit its final close by the end of September 2018. It has also backed companies like Chennai-based senior care services firm Athulya Senior Care, which raised Rs 77 crore from the fund in January this year.
Morgan Stanley made the investment via the North Haven India Infrastructure fund. In 2021, the Morgan Stanley fund acquired a stake in iBus Networks for $21 million and pallet pooling firm LEAP India for $25 million.
