Huddle, growX Launch Accelerator For India’s Electric Vehicle Startups

Looking to boost the electric vehicle ecosystem in the county, incubator and accelerator Huddle and early-stage venture capital firm growX ventures have announced an acceleration programme for EV startups. RACEnergy and Cell Propulsion have been selected in the first batch of the programme.

Huddle said that the selected startups will be given access to dedicated mentors, seed funding, business development opportunities and relevant pilot testing facilities with its other corporate and startup partner companies such as Exide, Tata and Swiggy among others.

Since the launch of the acceleration programme in June 2019, Huddle has evaluated over 170 startups working in the electric vehicle landscape, including those working in the fields of charging infrastructure, battery swapping, micro-mobility, data analytics, and electric vehicle components among others

Sanil Sachar, cofounder and partner at Huddle said that the electric vehicle adoption in the three-wheeler segment has been promising. However, the availability of high-speed three-wheeler remains scarce and unaffordable, he added.  “RACEnergy will enable auto drivers to transition to electric, thereby allowing them to drive more, reduce operating costs and earn more per ride,” said Sachar.

The Startups In The Huddle-growX Electric Vehicle Acceleration Programme 

RACEnergy

Founded in 2018, RACEnergy was started by Arun Shreyas and Gautam M. The company builds high-performance retrofit kits to convert existing three-wheeler internal combustion vehicles into electric vehicles. It also offers energy infrastructure support through its proprietary battery swapping stations. The company is backed by growX Ventures, Prophetic Ventures among other investors.

Cell Propulsion:

Founded in 2016, Bengaluru-based Cell Propulsion was started by Nakul Kukar, Supratim Naskar, Paras Kaushal and Sridhar Ramasubban. The company builds integrated electric powertrain for light and heavy commercial vehicles that are powered by rechargeable battery packs with aerospace-grade battery casing and thermal management system. Recently, the company successfully converted a diesel bus to electric in a pilot with Bangalore Municipal Transportation Corporation (BMTC). It is backed by Endiya Partners.

Talking about the focus areas for EV startups in India, Ishaan Khosla, cofounder and partner at Huddle said that there is no universal solution for electric vehicles. He added that what works in developed countries may not work in India, as the solutions have to be built from scratch.

Apart from the two electric vehicle startups, Gurugram-based Huddle has incubated other startups, including superfood startup Ketofy, blockchain startup 1Ramp and IoT startup Trillbit among others.