The battery swapping network startup, Chargeup announced that it has raised $2.5 million in pre-Series A round led by Capital-A and Anicut Capital. Other investors in the round include celebrities Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor, Aman and Sameer Gupta (owners of Boat), and Grip as the leasing partner.
According to the press release from the company, these funds will be utilised to expand its network to new cities and build larger capacities to meet the growing demand. Offering Battery as a Service (BaaS) with lightweight Lithium batteries, it currently has a network of 100 stations with 800 drivers on its platform.
Varun Goenka, CEO and Co-founder, Chargeup, said, “With this funding support, we aim to expand our network coverage and further enhance the capacities of our battery swapping stations to meet the growing demand. We are rapidly expanding our network and aiming to benefit the lives of millions of e-rickshaw drivers in India, while also extending our solutions to growing delivery network of EV 2 & 3 wheelers.”
Ankit Kedia, Founder, Capital-A, said, “Development of sustainable and technology-driven support for mobility services is the need of the hour. This is our first investment as a part of our recently launched exclusive $10 million (INR 75 crore) cleantech fund ‘Evolve’.”
Ashvin Chadha, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Anicut Angel Fund, said, “With the emergence of electric mobility, there is also an equally growing need to build infrastructure that charges the EVs of tomorrow. Mass adoption of EVs will gain momentum only when the charging concerns are eliminated through solutions such as battery swapping.”