India EV player BluSmart raises $42m
India’s BluSmart, an integrated electric vehicle (EV) ride-hailing and charging business, has raised USD 42m in a funding round featuring BP Ventures.
Almost half the round, comprised of USD 37m in equity and USD 5m in venture debut, was provided by the founders and leadership team. BP Ventures, the VC arm of energy giant BP, is said to have a 20% stake in the company.
It follows a USD 50m round, billed as a Series A, led by BP Ventures and local cleantech investor Green Frontier Fund in May last year. That investment also featured Alteria Capital, BlackSoil Capital, Stride Ventures, Mayfield India, 9Unicorns, and Survam Partners.
UC Inclusive Credit, a non-bank lender incubated by microfinance specialist Unitus Capital, and Panthera Capital, a VC unit of United Arab Emirates conglomerate Fujairah Holdings, also participated in the Series A.
BluSmart claims to be India’s largest zero-emission ride-hailing platform with more than 450,000 downloads and a fleet of some 3,500 EVs across the New Delhi and Bengaluru regions. The latest funding aims to build out the fleet to 10,000 EVs over the next 12 months.
The company is said to be the first service of its kind with no surge pricing or rides rejected by drivers. Other differentiators include a focus on financial inclusion in the form of a vehicle leasing programme, as well as a prioritisation of safety and cleanliness. Customers are able to view the last time each car was sanitised and check driver vaccination status via the app.
BP is active in India’s energy and mobility technology space, especially via a joint venture with digital giant Jio. In the past 12 months, BP-Jio has launched a blended, lower-emission auto fuel, and established EV partnerships with Citroen, Mahindra & Mahindra, and two-wheeler maker Hero Electric. Hero Electric is not related to motorcycle major Hero MotoCorp.
As recently as last month, BP Ventures invested USD 11m in Magenta Mobility, which claims to be India’s largest electric last-mile delivery services provider. The investment extended a Series A also featuring Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to USD 22m.
BP Ventures described India as a key market for BP Pulse, its partner company’s charging station infrastructure initiative. BP Pulse is an app-connected service with home charging installation options and more than 8,000 charging stations developed to date, primarily in the UK. Jio has also partnered with Pulse with a view to creating India’s largest charging network.
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