New Delhi-based battery-swapping network for electric vehicles Battery Smart on Monday announced that it has closed a Series A round of $25 million. The funding was led by Tiger Global, along with participation from Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures.
In November 2021, the startup raised $7 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures, along with notable angel investors.
As per the official release, the funds will be used to expand to new territories, strengthen its Battery Assignment Technology, and build its team to continue scaling operations.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs and IIT-Kanpur graduates Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart’s battery-as-a-service model enables interoperable battery swapping for electric vehicles (EVs) in under two minutes and reduces the up-front investment borne by a consumer by up to 60 percent.
Operationalised in June 2020, the company has completed over 2.5 million battery swaps and powered 80 million emission-free kilometres.
Pulkit Khurana, Co-founder, Battery Smart, said, “Battery swapping has incredible potential to fast-track the country’s EV adoption, as it solves major deterrents like range anxiety, high up-front costs, and long charging downtimes.
“With this investment, we are focused on bringing our offerings to even more EV users pan-India, by increasing the number of Swap Stations and continuing to partner with OEMs and fleet operators. We are also looking to strengthen our technology for effective network planning and to make key hires in our growing team.”
“Battery Smart’s tech-powered battery-swapping network offers an innovative solution to power India’s rapid adoption of EVs for food delivery and ecommerce. We are excited to partner with Pulkit and Siddharth as they rapidly expand their footprint in key markets,” said Connie Lee, Partner, Tiger Global.
With Niti Aayog publishing a draft battery swapping policy last month, battery swapping infrastructure and EV financing will continue to receive heightened focus from the government.
Reports show that the battery swapping market in India has strong growth prospects, with EV two and three-wheelers expected to contribute up to 30 percent of first- and last-mile vehicle sales by 2027.
