The argument for expanding the use of electric vehicles (EVs) has gained prominence in recent years as sustainability has emerged as a major concern for both nations and corporations. Despite India’s somewhat delayed vehicle electrification compared to several European nations, the US, China, and Japan, the country’s EV adoption has skyrocketed because to government regulations and the entry of new entrepreneurs.
Ather Energy, Altigreen, BluSmart, and Exponent Energy are just a few of the Indian EV startups that have developed sustainable transportation solutions. The Indian EV market, which is expected to grow to $110.74 billion by 2029, is home to both large and small EV startups.
Indian EV entrepreneurs provide businesses and the general public with services including energy infrastructure, commercial mobility, sustainable mobility, and battery management systems, among others. In addition, they are providing a less expensive substitute for fossil fuels and assisting in the reduction of carbon emissions.
Let’s examine a few Indian startups whose products and technologies are contributing to a healthy and green planet. The following list is not intended to be a ranking. The list of Indian EV brands is arranged alphabetically.
Startups In The EV Segment
1. 3EV Industries
| Founded In | 2019 |
| Founders | Peter Hartmut Voelkner, Suman K. Mishra |
| Funding Raised To Date | $2 Mn |
| Investors | Credence Family Office |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru |
In 2019, RUGGED Solar Products Pvt Ltd and ReBatt Limited partnered to become 3EV Industries. It provides clients throughout India with last-mile hyper-local connectivity.
A number of family offices, notably Credence Family Office, contributed $2 million to 3EV Industries’ seed investment round in November 2021. Initially, the startup supports the ‘Make in India’ goals of the Indian government.
It produces vehicles for both the passenger and cargo markets in addition to kits for converting traditional cars to electric ones. It seeks to optimize last-mile logistics through the use of off-grid power solutions and renewable energy.
2. Altigreen Propulsion Labs
| Founded In | 2013 |
| Founders | Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta |
| Funding Raised To Date | $40 Mn |
| Investors | Reliance New Energy Limited, Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital |
| Headquarters: | Bengaluru |
Altigreen provides commercial two-, three-, and four-wheeler electric vehicles for last-mile transportation.
In a Series A fundraising round headed by Sixth Sense Ventures, Altigreen raised INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn) in February 2022. Momentum Venture Capital, Accurant International, Xponentia Capital, and Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL) participated in the round.
The startup has 26 international patents and is present in 60 countries. Compared to INR 61.62 lakh in FY20, its turnover in FY21 was INR 1.04 Cr.
3. AMO Mobility
| Founded In | 2018 |
| Founders | Sushant Kumar |
| Funding Raised To Date | Bootstrapped |
| Investors | NA |
| Headquarters | Noida |
AMO Mobility is an electric mobility startup with ICAT certification and MSME registration. Additionally, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has certified it.
The original equipment manufacturer has a business plan for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. AMO distributes its electric two-wheelers through dealerships as well as OEMs, sub-dealerships, channel partners, and business-to-consumer partners.
Among its most notable business-to-business alliances are JustDial, Indiamart, Paytm’s e-commerce platform, and BikeDekho.
Trigo Electric, an EV-as-a-service platform, recently inked an agreement with AMO Mobility to supply the company with its cutting-edge electric mobility solutions.
Among the e-scooter models offered by AMO Mobility are the Jaunty, Feisty, and Inspirer. Corporates, e-commerce companies, and CSR groups make up its clientele.
4. Ather Energy
| Founded In | 2013 |
| Founders | Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain |
| Funding Raised To Date | $500 Mn+ |
| Investors | Hero Motocorp, Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, NIIF Limited |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru |
One of the top producers of two-wheeler EVs in India is Ather Energy. Additionally, it runs its own charging network and produces its own battery packs.
Following the success of its 450 series of e-scooters, which include the Ather 450S, Ather 450X, and Ather 450 Apex, the business introduced the Rizta family of e-scooters and ventured into the smart helmet market.
Hero MotoCorp, an existing investor, and sovereign fund NIIF Limited contributed $128 million to Ather’s Series E investment round in May. It concluded its Series E round with this round as well. Through a rights offer in September 2023, it raised INR 900 Cr from Hero MotoCorp and GIC, two current shareholders.
By raising $71 million from current investor National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) at a post-money valuation of $1.3 billion in August 2024, it also became a unicorn.
In September 2024, Ather also submitted its DRHP for an IPO of more than INR 3,100 Cr.
In FY24, its net loss increased by more than 22% to INR 1,059.7 Cr, while its operating revenue decreased 1.5% year over year (YoY) to INR 1,753.8 Cr.
5. Baaz Bikes
| Founded In | 2019 |
| Founders | Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena, Shubham Srivastava |
| Funding Raised To Date | $10.3 Mn |
| Investors | BIG Capital, Kalaari Capital, AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, Sumant Sinha |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
A division of ElecTorq Technologies, Baaz Bikes provides gig workers with micro-mobility options. By using its electric scooters to deliver goods for businesses like Grofers, Amazon, and Zomato, it helps gig workers make money.
AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, and Sumant Sinha of Renew Power participated in the $2 million Pre-Series A fundraising round that Baaz Bikes raised from Kalaari Capital. The EV firm raised $8 million in its Series A fundraising round in November 2023.
With its full stack EV ecosystem, Baaz Bikes offers its low-speed e-bikes (Baaz Bikes) and battery swapping stations (Baaz Swap) to delivery executives from companies like Zomato, Zepto, and Amazon on a subscription basis.
The business claims that each delivery executive pays it about INR 5,000 a month, and it currently has over 500 cars on the road.
6. Battery Smart
| Founded In | 2019 |
| Founders | Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn |
| Funding Raised To Date | $65 Mn |
| Investors | Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Niraj Singh, Amit Bhasin |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
Customers can exchange their EV batteries at Battery Smart’s locations, known as Swap locations. At the moment, e-rickshaw proprietors can use its services. Currently, it is serving over 60,000 customers.
According to Battery Smart, it has performed over 50 million battery swaps and completed 1400+ live swap stations across 35+ cities. Currently, Battery Smart has over 1 lakh swaps a day.
In November 2021, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures led Battery Smart’s $7 million Pre-Series A fundraising round. Investors such as Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, and Baring Private Equity India participated in the round, as did angel investors Srinivas Anumolu of Bluestone, K Ganesh of GrowthStory.in, Niraj Singh of Spinny, and Amit Bhasin of GoMechanic.
Prior to this, Battery Smart raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a seed funding round from Orios Venture Partners in February 2021. The startup has further raised $25 Mn in its Series A round in June 2022 led by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures and two debt rounds from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil. According to a survey, it has saved over 200,000 tonnes of CO2 till now. It has generated over ₹450 crores in additional income for drivers & over ₹100 crores for its partners Empowering female drivers, promoting gender equality in the EV sector.
In its pre-series B funding round in July of 2023, Battery Smart raised $33 Mn led by investors Tiger Global and Blume Ventures, with participation from the Ecosystem Integrity Fund and British International Investment. It has expanded network through partnerships with local businesses, strengthening community ties.
7. BGauss
| Founded In | 2020 |
| Founders | Hemant Kabra |
| Funding Raised To Date | $7 Mn |
| Investors | Darshan Patel |
| Headquarters | Mumbai |
BGauss provides sustainable mobility solutions and is pushed by RR Global. The startup produces two EVs, the BGauss B8 and BGauss A2, which are offered for sale both online and at physical retail locations. Two new EV scooters will be introduced in 2022 as part of its ongoing product line expansion.
An Inc42 article states that the other scooter will be released later this year, while BGauss’ new EV scooter, the D15, will debut in May 2022. According to the firm, these scooters would be entirely “Made in India” in its Chakan, near Pune, production plant.
Darshan Patel of Vini Cosmetics recently gave the EV company $7 million to increase its manufacturing and retail capacity in India, conduct research and development, and create in-house products for a range of EV components. By the end of 2022, it hopes to expand into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and it claims to have 100 dealer networks throughout India. It also wants to concentrate on the export market and expand its activities.
It is present in over 85 countries, according to its website. In addition, it has more than 25,000 retail locations and 13 industrial sites.
8. BLive
| Founded In | 2018 |
| Founders | Samarth Kholkar, Sandeep Mukherjee |
| Funding Raised To Date | Approximately $3 Mn |
| Investors | LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, Ankit Agrawal |
| Headquarters | Goa |
BLive is a multi-brand EV retailer that provides a large selection of EV goods and services both online and in physical locations. It serves as a one-stop shop for EV solutions and products.
A variety of electric two-wheelers from companies including TVS, Ola, and Ather are available at BLive’s EV Store. To assist its sales, service, and spare parts throughout India, the firm partnered with Revolt Motors, a maker of electric bikes, in August 2023.
Additionally, BLive provides tailored EV financing options.
The firm and Zomato recently extended their partnership to include Bengaluru and other southern cities, deploying escooters for last-mile delivery. The startup is using TVS iQube scooters for Zomato’s last-mile deliveries as part of the collaboration.
9. BluSmart
| Founded In | 2019 |
| Founders | Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal |
| Funding Raised To Date | $110 Mn+ |
| Investors | Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, UCIC, BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Suvan Partners, Mumbai Angels, Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts |
| Headquarters | Gurugram |
Via its mobile app, BluSmart provides electric ride-hailing mobility services. Its main function is to offer urban clients sustainable mobility alternatives.
In its Series A funding round, BluSmart raised $25 million in May 2022 through loan and equity financing. BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, and UCIC are among the investors who took part in the round. In 2023, it raised more than $66 million in two rounds.
According to BluSmart, more than 10 million rides have been done to date. As of the end of 2023, it also owned and ran over 4,000 EV chargers throughout its 34 EV charging superhubs. In a pre-Series B fundraising round, the business hopes to raise about INR 200 Cr.
10. BOLT
| Founded In | 2017 |
| Founders | Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav |
| Funding Raised To Date | $4 Mn |
| Investors | ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, SUN Mobility, Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru |
An AI-based IoT platform called BOLT, formerly known as REVOS, assists users in operating EVs. In essence, it tracks and keeps an eye on the platform’s motor controllers and batteries.
Union Square Ventures (USV) and Prime Venture Partners led BOLT’s $4 million Series A investment in September 2021. To date, it says it has sold over 1,000 products, including chargers and EVs, to 30 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in China, India, Nepal, Egypt, and Vietnam. In the last six months, the business says it has set approximately 10,000 EV charging stations in India.
According to reports, BOLT plans to install 100,000 charging stations in the next six months to satisfy demand in a number of cities, including Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandigarh, Surat, and Bhubaneswar.
BOLT recently teamed up with the Delhi Capitals cricket team for the Indian Premier League.
Conclusion
India’s electric vehicle ecosystem is vibrant and rapidly evolving, with several startups leading the way in innovation and sustainable mobility solutions. These startups are helping to shape the future of transportation in India.
As we move forward in 2024, the continued growth of these startups will be crucial in achieving India’s ambitious goals of reducing carbon emissions and promoting clean energy. With a supportive regulatory environment, increased consumer awareness, and technological advancements, India is well on its way to becoming a global hub for electric mobility.