EV financing and vehicle lifecycle management platform Vidyut on Tuesday said it has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by 3one4 Capital to scale its new offerings and expand its footprint in India.
The round, which was a mix of debt and equity, also witnessed participation from new and existing investors such as Saison Capital, Zephyr Peacock, Force Ventures, venture debt fund Alteria Capital, and Udaan CEO Sujeet Kumar.
Vidyut provides customers financing for EVs through its unique battery subscription model where the vehicle is financed through a term loan, while the battery is financed through a flexible pay-as-you-use financing structure. In an interaction with DealStreetAsia, Xitij Kothi, co-founder of Vidyut, said EV financing forms the bulk of the company’s revenue today.
“The new business lines are still in the early days. We started pilots with insurance a couple of months ago and it’s shaping up well. EV resale is in the very early days. We will be launching our offering in the EV service nad maintenance space in the next few months,” Kothi said.
The company said it is looking to expand its presence to 40 Indian cities and double its team size by the end of FY25 as it prepares to build a full-stack EV ecosystem. It aims to offer EV insurance, lifecycle management, and EV resale, to simplify the entire EV ownership experience.
Through collaboration with NBFCs and banks, along with OEM partners like Mahindra, Piaggio, and Murugappa Group’s Montra Electric, Vidyut aims to smartly underwrite and unlock EV ownership for gig workers and SMBs.
Before the Series A round, Vidyut had raised a seed round from investors including Force Ventures, Sujeet Kumar, Sahil Barua, Kunal Shah, Sriharsha Majety, Rajat Verma, Veda VC. The two-year-old Bengaluru-based startup has raised $14 million in total so far.
Other players in the EV financing space in India include Mufin Green Finance, OTO, evfin and Revfin, and Finayo.
“EVs pose new underwriting and product structuring challenges to financiers. EVs also meaningfully expand the role of data in the lifecycle of a financing journey and make new lending models possible. Vidyut’s model removes EV adoption barriers, especially in the large but price-sensitive driver cum owner segment,” said Sonal Saldanha, Vice President, Investments, 3one4 Capital.
Other investments of 3one4 Capital in the electric vehicle space include Exponent Energy, Yulu, and flying electric taxi ePlane.ai.
“After hitting an inflection point, customised financing and lifecycle management solutions will play a central role in large-scale EV adoption, requiring lenders to evaluate asset risk alongside borrower risk. Through its unique offerings, VidyutTech addresses this whitespace by passing on the favourable TCO of an EV to users upfront,” said Dhairen Tohliani, Vice President, Alteria Capital.
Vidyut’s funding is the most recent example of rising investor interest in India’s EV market, with a raft of startups such as BluSmart, Ather Energy, Exponent Energy, Altigreen, Ola Electric, BOLT, and Baaz Bikes raising funds from investors including corporate VCs and automakers.
Given the rise in petrol and diesel prices in India and awareness about the environment, more consumers are opting for electric vehicles. Mass EV adoption, however, faces a huge challenge in the area of battery-charging technology infrastructure and due to higher prices.