EV Startup Prakriti Secures Funding From IEG As Part Of Its $5 Mn Funding Round

Electric mobility startup Prakriti E-Mobility has secured an undisclosed amount of lead investment as part of its pre-Series A funding round, led by IEG Investment Banking Group.

This will be the first tranche of the $5 Mn capital that will be infused in the startup as part of its pre-Series A round. The startup plans to use the funding to expand its fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) and add more charging stations across the country. It will also use the funding to invest more on the technological side of its offerings and to upgrade its mobile app.

Prakriti was founded in 2019 by Nimish Trivedi, Rajeev Tiwari and Vikas Bansal. To put it simply, the startup is an EV cab service provider for customers across B2C and B2B segments. Prakriti is currently operational in Delhi-National Capital Region.

Speaking about its expansion plans, Trivedi said that the startup was looking to venture out to Tier-2 cities in the near future,  and would use the funding to expand to inter-city travel segments. He further added that Prakriti was looking to empanel charging stations across the country to ensure hassle-free charging service for its customers. 

The startup claims to have clocked as much as 8 Mn kms across Delhi-NCR in the last 2.5 years. It had earlier said that it had tied up with online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip to offer cab services from New Delhi airport.

The startup had also joined hands with Delhi government at the height of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to transport patients to hospitals for treatment. 

Overall, the Asia Pacific region is expected to emerge as the world’s largest market for emobility market. The demand will mostly be driven by the high adoption rate of EVs in the region and a growing demand for taxi fleets. India and China are expected to lead in the region.

As per the World Economic Forum, the demand for urban last-mile delivery is likely to increase by 78% by 2030. The development comes at a time when India is trying to achieve its obligations under the global EV30@30 campaign. The campaign has set a collective goal of having 30% share of EV sales in the total vehicle sales by 2030. 

Additionally, the Centre and state governments have also doubled down on their efforts to spur the adoption of EVs. In Budget 2022, the central government announced its intention to introduce battery swapping policy and to expand the charging network across the country to facilitate the switch to EVs. 

Earlier in 2020, the Centre had issued draft guidelines for tech aggregators which sought to facilitate promotion of alternative fuel vehicles for emobility giants such as Uber and Ola. 

In January this year, the Delhi government also issued draft guidelines for  tech aggregators to promote use of EVs in their fleet, and set out rules that seek to achieve the aim in a staggered manner.

The overall Indian EV market was pegged at $1,434.04 Bn in 2021, and is expected to grow to $15,397.19 Bn by 2027 at a CAGR of 47.09%.

Prakriti’s fundraise comes barely days after Ahmedabad-based mobility startup Chartered Speed announced plans for an INR 600 Cr initial public offering (IPO). Besides, in March this year, VC firm EverSource Capital also acquired a majority stake in the Bengaluru-based EV startup Lithium Urban Technologies. 

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