BlackSoil Backs 3 Startups With $5 Mn Investment

Venture debt firm BlackSoil has invested $5 Mn in EV battery swapping startup Battery Smart, NBFC startup Upmove Capital and fintech startup Revfin. 

Gurugram-based Battery Smart, founded in 2020 by Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, claims to operate more than 400 battery-swapping stations in India. Further this, battery-as-a-service (BaaS) startup also provide an interoperable battery swapping solution and charging infrastructure that helps EV drivers swap their batteries within minutes.

Excluding the current funding, Battery Smart has secured $32 Mn funding to date. It claims to offer services to more than 12K customers across 12 Indian cities including Delhi-NCR, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Karnal, Panipat, and Lucknow, among others. 

Its cap table includes Orios Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred and Baring Private Equity India, among others. 

“Keeping in-line with our underwriting thesis, we continue to build our presence in new age businesses such as EV, while still maintaining our strong presence in the financial services. These businesses have shown great resilience and tenacity in the face of changing macro as well as global events,” said Ankur Bansal, cofounder and director of BlackSoil.

Upmove Capital, on the other hand, an NBFC arm of SmartCoin, is an RBI-registered entity. Lightrock-backed Upmove Capital provides low-interest credit to customers. Its parent company SmartCoin is into offering micro-loans to underserved people and it said to have disbursed up to 1 Mn loans amounting to $115 Mn. 

Revfin, founded in 2018 by Sameer Aggarwal, is an EV-focused digital lending startup. It claims to have offered credit facility to more than 12,000 EVs and currently, holds less than 2% NPAs (non-performing assets).

The startup said that electric vehicles financed by the startup have managed to reduce 27,400+ metric tons of carbon emissions. It has also partnered with 15+ OEMs and 550+ EV dealers across 15 states of India. 

In October, Revfin secured $10 Mn in a mix of equity and debt financing from Green Frontier Capital and LC Nueva Investment Partners, among others. 

BlackSoil, on the other hand, presently manages an alternative credit platform along with an NBFC and four SEBI-registered AIFs. It claims to have disbursed more than $350 Mn loans across 130+ deals and also, has an asset under management (AUM) of more than $100 Mn. 

Upstox, slice, MobiKwik, Udaan, Zetwerk, OYO Rooms, Spinny, Purplle, Curefoods, Blu Smart and Aviom are some of BlackSoil’s portfolio companies.

It is interesting to note that BlackSoil closed the above investment deals amid the ongoing economic slowdown and funding crunch. At the moment, India’s startup ecosystem is battered owing to various macro and micro economic factors. Besides, low investors’ sentiments, market inflation and global disruption are also impacting the overall funding scenario in the country.

To keep businesses buoyed, startups are now looking for debt investments over equity investments. And we have a few venture capital firms launching debt funds this year as well. 

Alteria Capital marking the first closure of INR 1,000 Cr fund, Anicut Capital launching INR 1,500 Cr fund and Edelweiss Wealth introducing $361 Mn fund are some of the debt funds that are backing early-stage and growth-stage startups in India.