With $42M funding, BluSmart’s core market “Delhi-NCR” to turn profitable by Aug
EV ride-hailing service and EV charging superhub infrastructure operator, BluSmart Mobility, has bagged $42 million in its latest funding round. The Series A2 round included an equity infusion of $37 million and venture debt of $5 million which saw participation from its existing investors BP venture and Survam Partners, with 50 percent of the round being subscribed by the BluSmart founders and leadership team.
In a conversation with CNBC-TV18, Anmol Jaggi, Co-founder and CEO of BluSmart said, “Our funds will get deployed majorly on acquisition of our EV vehicles which we get on lease, a substantial amount will go into building our charging infrastructure. Our burn rate is low so we don’t need that money for ourselves. So, the bulk of our money will go into capex for cars and charging infrastructure.”
With an all-electric ride-hailing fleet size of 3,500 EVs which are operation in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru, BluSmart plans to add another 10,000 EVs in FY24.
“Bengaluru is a very recent start for us so we currently have only 400 cars there. In Delhi, we have about 3100 cars and will increase this number by 5,000 in the next two months. With 5,000 cars, our expectation is that on a pan-India level, we should be at a 12-13% market share. Nobody thought that a young startup like our can reach this market share with the existing competition in the space,” added Jaggi.
The funding comes amid BluSmart’s growing reputation of becoming a challenger to Ola and Uber. “More than 40% of driver partners have come from Ola, Uber,” added BluSmart co-founder.
The CEO further added that from a base fare level, they are at par with the likes of Ola and Uber but since they don’t add surge charges, they are comparatively cheaper than the ride-hailing giants and their fare remains flat.
For every green taxi, BluSmart claims to have one and a half driver partner. “One of the biggest reason behind road accidents is the fatigue which driver partners face and we don’t want that. So, with a fleet of 3,500, we have a nexus of 4700-5000 driver partners with,” said Jaggi.
The company currently boasts of 26 charging hubs across Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
On expansion plans, Jaggi added, “For every 100-150 cars, we need one charging hub. In the next 12 months, we want to build 75 charging station.”
BluSmart said that its monthly revenue has grown 3x over the last three quarters. “We have 6,000 users on a monthly basis, we do more than half a million trips every month. We are currently at an ARR of over 300 crores and before the end of the year, we will touch 1000 crore in ARR. Delhi which is the core market for us will turn profitable by August,” explained the BluSmart CEO.
BluSmart has raised $109 million across its seed to Series A2 rounds, including $85 million in Series A round in multiple tranches. According to the company, it has also received EV asset leasing of $150 million backed by Development Financial Institutions like PFC, IREDA among others which will add 5000 EVs to its electric ride-hailing fleet. The firm is looking to enter the billion-dollar club in the next 6-8 months.
First Published: May 5, 2023 3:20 PM IST
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