EV Startup Battery Smart Raises $25 Mn To Partner With OEMs And Fleet Operators

EV battery swapping startup Battery Smart has closed its $25 Mn Series A funding round.

The round saw participation from Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures. 

Battery Smart will deploy the funds to expand into new territories, strengthen its tech infrastructure, and build a team to continue scaling operations. 

The latest development comes after Battery Smart secured $7 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from investors Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, among others. 

Commenting on the fundraising, Pulkit Khurana, cofounder of Battery Smart, said, “With this investment, we are focused on bringing our offerings to even more  EV users across India, by increasing the number of battery swap stations and continuing to partner with OEMs as well as fleet operators. We are also looking to strengthen our technology for effective network planning and make key hires in our growing team.”  

Founded in June 2020 by IIT-Kanpur graduates Pulkit Khurana and  Siddharth Sikka, the Gurugram-based startup operates a multitude of battery-swapping stations for electric two and three-wheelers. It claims to have over 200 battery swap stations in 10 Indian cities and has swapped 2.5 Mn batteries to date.

According to the startup, Battery Swap presently aims to build a network where a swapping station is available in every 1 sq km area. It swaps EV batteries in less than two minutes and also reduces up-front expenses that are borne by consumers by up to 60%.

Its website says it also operates more than 100 battery swapping stations in Delhi NCR. As of now, it has 1200 active EV vehicles listed on its platform and makes 5K swaps on a regular basis.

The EV startup faces competition from other battery swapping startups such as Chargeup, RACEnergy, Revolt and SUN Mobility, among others.

Centre’s Push For India’s EV Sector 

To shore up India’s EV sector, the Centre recently shared a draft battery swapping policy. The policy would address pressing issues in the EV sector and also, increase EV adoption in the nation. 

In the past year, the Centre also introduced a Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell batteries. Apart from the Indian government, the state governments particularly the Delhi government and Maharashtra government are also making active contributions to the EV market. 

In May, the Maharashtra Government rolled out an EV-focused fund to back EV startups that are working in the province whilst, in January, the Delhi government issued draft guidelines to regulate transportation activities and stimulate EV adoption in the state. 

According to a report, India’s EV market is estimated to reach $15.38 Tn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 47.09% by 2027. 

Some of the startups that are working in the EV space include Statiq, Matter, BluSmart, and Ather Energy.

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