Vidyut (VT), a platform that allows for EV financing, vehicle lifecycle management, and vehicle finance, raised $4 million through a combination of equity and debt. The round was led by Veda VC, Force Ventures, and a group of strategic angels in clean energy, the company announced.
Sujeet Kumar, Udaan’s cofounder, Sahil Barua, Delhivery’s cofounder, and CEO were also present along with Kunal Shah, cofounder at CRED, Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy’s founder, and Rajat Verma of Lohum.
The funds will be used by the startup to expand into more cities. It also plans to double its credit, engineering, and sales team within 12 months.
“We will expand the offering across OEM partners and geographies.”
Vidyut has primarily based in Bengaluru as well as Delhi, but the new funding allowed the firm to look at cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.
Vidyut was founded in 2021 by Gaurav Srivastava and Kothi Srivastava. Its ownership plans aim to make commercial EV ownership affordable and risk-free for customers.
VT offers two types of ownership plans. One is a hybrid financing plan that combines a vehicle loan and a subscription to a battery, which reduces the upfront EV cost by between 40-50%, and one uses a traditional loan plan.
VT uses battery health data to calculate a high residual value and its own underwriting model to help customers obtain an effective interest rate of 7%. This ROI is nearly equal to the ROI offered by PSU bank for conventional vehicles with an internal combustion motor.
Kothi stated that traditional financiers have difficulty underwriting an EV vehicle because its running is different than an ICE car. This is why there is less penetration of financing.
Although the firm is not involved in passenger vehicle financing, the company plans to provide financing for passenger vehicles in the long term.
To scale up in India, it is important to unlock the value of small fleet owners and consumers. This will eventually drive adoption. Vidyut’s solution addresses the nuances and solves one of the most pressing problems in the sector using technology,” Sujeet Kumar, founder of Udaan and angel investor.