EV Startup Chargeup Raises $7 Mn In Funding To Expand To 20 Cities

Delhi NCR-based Chargeup, which offers battery-as-a-service solutions (BaaS) across the NCR region, has bagged $7 Mn in a mix of debt and equity in its Pre-Series A1 round. 

Led by existing investors Capital A and Anicut Capital, the round saw the participation of marquee investors including TV show producer Ekta Kapoor, angel investor Sunil Kalra, Mastercard’s Sachin Mehra and debt investor Jiraaf. 

The round will help Chargeup set up its services to 20 new cities and power 50K+ drivers, it said in a statement. It has already entered into partnerships with large-scale OEMs and ecommerce companies to solve their cost of deliveries conundrum by switching to EVs. 

Founded in 2019 by Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan, Chargeup currently operates 200+ swap stations in the Delhi-NCR region, clocking 1 Lakh+ battery swaps per month from 2K+ drivers. 

Chargeup also plans to strengthen its platform and tech stack with plans to reach 1 Mn+ EV drivers by 2027.

It offers interoperable batteries that can be used for both two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Chargeup procures the batteries on lease from manufacturers and provides them as a service through dealer locations. 

With its predictive model, which is based on real-time data collected from battery usage, it provides journey analytics to EV drivers to ensure smooth operations. 

The startup operates on a subscription model. Drivers pay for the number of swaps per week/month and the battery cost is paid directly to dealers (who pay the franchise cost to Chargeup).

It has previously raised $1 Mn in its seed round and has recently ventured into the EV financing segment. The startup also made it to Inc42’s 30 Startups To Watch – April Edition. 

India Gearing Up EV Ecosystem

The funding in Chargeup comes at a time when EVs are one of the up-and-coming segments in the ecosystem. To ensure a smooth transition to electric vehicles, the Indian government devised a battery-swapping policy in February 2022.

Coupled with the FAME-I and FAME-II incentives, and the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, India is looking at achieving green mobility.

Currently, there are 13.34 Lakh EVs on Indian roads (as of mid-July 2022) and the government plans to take the number to 3 Cr in the next two years.

Several startups including Sun Mobility, BatterySmart, Corrit Electric, Electra EV and more are working to boost the EV ecosystem in the country.

Most recently, Chargeup competitor Esmito raised funds to expand its battery swapping infra, while Yulu bagged $82 Mn to electrify the fleets of several ecommerce companies. iPhone maker Foxconn, which also manufactures several EV products, is also looking to set shop in India to augment the electric battery-swapping infrastructure.