Battery Smart, a battery swapping network for electric vehicles, announced that it had closed a Series A round of funding for $25 million. Tiger Global led the round, with participation from Blume Ventures as well as Orios Ventures.
In a pre-series A round, the company raised $7 million and the round was led by Orios Ventures and Blume Ventures. In that round, other angel investors also participated.
The funds will be used by the company to expand into new areas, to strengthen its battery technology and to build its team for scaling up operations.
Through its battery-as-a-service model, Battery Smart allows interoperable battery swapping between electric vehicles. Swapping takes less than 120 seconds and can reduce the upfront investment that a consumer must make up to 60%. So far, the company has swapped 2.5 million batteries.
Pulkit Khurana, co-founder, of 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 make key hires in our growing team.”
Tiger Global partner Connie Lee stated that Tiger Global offers an innovative solution for India’s rapid adoption and use of EVs.
According to the company, with the new draft batter swapping policy, EV financing and battery swapping infrastructure will be given more attention. According to reports, EV two-wheelers and three-wheelers will contribute as much as 30% to first- and second-mile vehicle sales by 2027.