New Delhi: Chargeup, the company building Bharat’s largest battery swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers, has raised 2.5 million USD in pre-Series A funding in a round led by Capital-A and co-led by Anicut Capital. Other marquee investors who participated in the round included Tiger Shroff, Aman and Sameer Gupta (founders of Boat), and Shraddha Kapoor, with Grip Invest extending a lease line of 1.5 million USD. The funding will be used for expansion of Chargeup’s network to new cities and building larger capacities to meet the growing demand.
Chargeup has adopted an advanced technology driven approach to offer Battery as a Service (BaaS) with lightweight Lithium batteries that can be swapped at multi swap points. This enables unlimited swaps and kms and helps the end user to convert 50% of the vehicle cost from capex to opex, hence facilitating faster adoption of EVs. Battery swapping also eliminates range anxiety and the need for buying or managing batteries as the service provider takes care of these needs.
Chargeup’s standardized battery technology and execution capabilities are geared towards delivering its brand promise of a 2-minute battery swap within a radius of 2 km to ensure twice the revenue for drivers and dealer partners. Because of its partner-driver growth model, from 2 stations at the outset, the company has grown to 100 stations with 800 drivers on its platform, covering 2 million zero emission kms per month.
Speaking about this, Varun Goenka, CEO and Co-founder, Chargeup, “It is highly exciting to move ahead towards our long-term vision of growth of zero emission transportation across India. With this round of funding, we will be expanding our network coverage to 10 new cities and further build the tech stack to enhance the user experience and accelerate faster EV adoption. Chargeup’s tech enabled network is managed through an advance IOT solution to enable interoperability, and ensure the swap doesn’t take more than 2 minutes.”
Talking about the investment, Ankit Kedia, Founder, Capaital-A said, “Development of a sustainable and technology driven support for last-mile mobility services is the need of the hour. Through its network of battery swapping stations, Chargeup is rapidly building a favourable EV ecosystem for faster adoption of EVs by eliminating the range anxiety as well as the challenge of battery ownership costs. We are happy to be a part of their journey towards building an EV-centric future and support them in every way possible.”
Ashiv Chadha, Partner, Anicut Capital said, “Green mobility is the need of the hour. India is a massive country with humongous last-mile connectivity operations. With the emergence of electric mobility, there is also an equally growing need to build infrastructure that charges the EVs of tomorrow. Mass adoption of EVs will gain momentum only when the charging concerns are eliminated through solutions such as battery swapping. This is where Chargeup is going to be a key enabler, and we are looking forward to the brand’s journey in the Indian EV battery swapping/charging arena.”
According to estimates by Mordor Intelligence, the Indian Electric Vehicle Market was valued at USD 5 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 47 billion by 2026 registering a CAGR of above 44% during the forecast period (2021 – 2026). The Indian government plans to convert about 30% of all passenger vehicles to EVs by 2030 under FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles-II) initiative. Removing battery cost from the equation can make EVs cheaper by up to 40% and make them affordable for fleet owners.
Being an early mover in the Indian EV battery charging sector, Chargeup is set to lead the segment and will be driving standardization of operations through integration of cutting-edge AI and analytics tools. The company is rapidly expanding its BSS network and aiming to benefit the lives of millions of e-rickshaw drivers in India, while also expanding coverage to 2 wheelers and other LCVs.
