Treasure Vase Ventures Pvt. Ltd, the parent of SmartE, one of India’s largest electric mobility service provider, has raised ₹100 crore in series B funding from Japan’s Mitsui and Co.
Delhi-based SmartE, which operates a fleet of more than 1,000 electric rickshaws in Delhi NCR, will use the funds to expand into new markets.
Goldie Srivastava, co-founder and CEO, said his startup plans to grow the fleet of electric three-wheelers to 10,000 units and expand operations to at least two cities in south India and three in the northern region in the next two years. He did not name the cities citing competitiveness of the fast-growing electric three-wheeler market.
“The deployment of electric three-wheelers in first and last mile connectivity operations is now a proven business model. We plan to scale up to 100,000 EVs in next five years with different milestones in between as we grow gradually,” he said.
The five-year-old startup had raised $5 million in 2017 from Singapore’s Ecotransit Investments International Pte Ltd in a series A fundraise. Until now, SmartE has raised more than ₹132 crore. The company did not share its current valuation citing Mitsui’s compliance rules which is listed in Tokyo.
SmartE has built a scalable model in certain pockets of Delhi NCR wherein it has teamed up with strategic partners to build up five large EV charging depots, which also serve as parking lots for the e-rickshaws in the night. These depots, which have plug-in as well as battery swapping stations, are built within 2-3 kms of select metro stations in Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
While the smallest depot can charge up to 160 e-rickshaws in one go, the largest depot can accommodate over 300 EVs at the same time, Srivastava said.
“We have more than 800 EV charging stations in Delhi NCR and are building another half-a-dozen EV charging-cum-parking depots. By July-end, two more charging depots will be commissioned,” he said.
This article was first published on livemint.com.