ElecTorq Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs mobility platform Baaz Bikes, on Tuesday said it has raised $2 million (around Rs 15 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by Kalaari Capital.
Other existing investors who participated in the fundraise include AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns and Sumant Sinha (Chairman and Managing Director at Renew Power).
The company plans to use the fresh capital towards furthering the platform and infrastructure - including battery swap stations to provide complete coverage and service throughout Delhi.
Founded in 2007, Baaz Bikes provides gig delivery workers, access to its in-house designed cost-efficient bikes (Baaz Bikes) provided by the local bike rental partners.
“It’s always exciting when we meet purpose-oriented entrepreneurs inventing and creating foundations which will unlock tremendous economic value. When the ergonomics of engineering directly impacts the livelihood of gig workers, it is almost a certainty that scale and its benefits will be a visible quarter to quarter for the business," said Ravinder Pal Singh, Partner, Kalaari Capital.
"Baaz Bikes’ indigenous and innovative (Vehicle to Energy to Software) platform is a large-scale mobility solution designed for both India and Bharat, and will be the global standard for last-mile delivery," he added.
Echargeup Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates battery swapping network Chargeup, has raised $2.5 million (around Rs 19 crore) in pre-Series A round led by Capital-A and Anicut Capital, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Other investors who participated in the funding include actors Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor, Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta (founders of Boat), with Grip Invest as the leasing partner.
The company plans to deploy the fresh capital for the expansion of Chargeup’s network to new cities and build larger capacities to meet the growing demand.
Founded by Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan, Chargeup offers battery as a Service (BaaS) with lightweight lithium batteries that can be swapped at multi swap points. It provides the service to a community of around 2.4 million e-rickshaws.
"With a strong grip on the execution of this business, Chargeup has built a CapEx and OpEx light model thus making it fast and scalable. Chargeup’s tech-enabled network is managed through an advanced IoT solution to ease the operations for dealers and ensure asset security and utilization.
We are rapidly expanding our network and aiming to benefit the lives of millions of e-rickshaw drivers in India, while also extending our solutions to a growing delivery network of EV 2 and 3 wheelers," said Goenka.
