BluSmart Investors Planning $30 Mn Infusion To Revive The Startup: Report

BluSmart’s existing investors, including bp Ventures and responsAbility Investments, are reportedly planning to invest $30 Mn (INR 253.64 Cr) in an effort to revive the electric cab-hailing startup.

The funding will be in the form of unsecured debt and would help the company to patch its operational liabilities, including pending dues and employee salaries, TechCrunch reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

However, the investment proposal relies on cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi’s resignation, the report confirmed.

Responding to Inc42’s queries, bp Ventures said, “We are working with relevant stakeholders to find an appropriate solution.”

Meanwhile, responsAbility has declined to comment on the matter.

However, queries sent to BluSmart did not elicit any response till the time of publishing the article.

The report further said that the startup’s investors with pro rata rights began discussions of the resolution a week ago.

The troubled ride-hailing major was also in discussions with two climate and mobility-focused distressed funds to revive operations, about ten days ago, without disclosing the particulars of the funds.

Following the allegations that arose with Gensol Engineering, where its promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi were accused of falsifying documents, manipulating share prices, and siphoning funds for personal luxuries, SEBI passed an interim order, leading the ride-hailing startup to suspend its operations.

This resulted in its 10,000 drivers going jobless, to which around 80 of its drivers gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this month to protest their job losses and urging for the government’s intervention.

The regulator, in its interim order, also said that Gensol attempted to mislead credit rating agencies, lenders and investors by submitting forged documents. 

Meanwhile, Inc42 exclusively reported that climate-focussed PE firm Eversource Capital was supposedly in talks to acquire BluSmart for around INR 800 Cr to INR 1,000 Cr ($90 Mn to $120 Mn), a steep 60% drop from BluSmart’s last known $300 Mn valuation.

BluSmart, founded in 2019, also counts Punit Goyal as its cofounder. It has raised a total funding of about $180 Mn to date from investors like Lightsource BP, Mayfield India Fund, Sumant Sinha, MS Dhoni Family Office, among others. 

While the company claims to have the largest EV fleet in South Asia, with over 10,000 EVS, BluSmart cannot transfer, sell, or use the 175 EVS as collateral, limiting its ability to raise funds or restructure its fleet.