Battery Smart, which runs a battery-swapping network for electric vehicles, has raised $25 million in its Series A funding round led by Tiger Global with participation from Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures.
Operationalized in June 2020, Battery Smart’s battery-as-a-service model enables battery swapping for electric two and three-wheelers. The Delhi NCR-based startup claims to have completed over 2.5 million battery swaps through its network of more than 200 live swap stations across 10 cities in India.
With fresh capital, Battery Smart is planning to enter new territories, strengthen its Battery Assignment Technology, and ramp up hiring to continue scaling operations.
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The startup's fundraise follows a favourable policy move. Last month, the government think tank NITI Aayog released the draft battery swapping policy to standardise the interoperability of electric vehicle batteries.
Explaining that battery swapping reduces the up-front investment borne by a consumer by up to 60 percent, Battery Smart's co-founder Pulkit Khurana 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," he added.
With electric two and three-wheelers expected to contribute up to 30 percent of first and last-mile vehicle sales by 2027, Tiger Global's Connie Lee sees Battery Smart’s battery-swapping network as the solution to adoption of EVs for food delivery and e-commerce.
Founded by Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart had last raised $7 million in pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures along with angel investors in November, 2021.
(Edited by : Anand Singha)
First Published: Jun 27, 2022 6:20 PM IST
