EV start-up Chargeup raises $7 million in pre-series A1 funding round

Chargeup, which provides battery swapping services for electric vehicles, on Thursday announced that it raised $7 million in funding in a pre-series A1 financing round, led by Capital-A and Anicut Capital along with other investors.

The new funding will be infused into expanding the services to 20 new cities and power 50,000+ drivers. The company will also strengthen its FineTech (Finance-Network-Technology) Platform, and tech stack to ensure 100 per cent uptime and a seamless experience for its customers. This will also enable the drivers to own an EV by spending 40 per cent less and earning 80 per cent more.

Other investors included Ekta Kapoor, Sunil Kalra, and Sachin Mehra. Jiraaf, a platform for high-yield alternative investment opportunities, also participated in the round by extending debt to Chargeup.

The company currently operates 200+ swap stations in Delhi - NCR, executing over one lakh battery swaps per month. It aspires to power one million drivers by 2027 and help drive mass EV adoption.

Varun Goenka, CEO, and Co-Founder, of Chargeup, said, “At Chargeup, we are committed to leading the transition into a sustainable and accessible future of mobility for India. Our country is at the cusp of an EV revolution and Chargeup is working towards powering the government’s mission in this direction. After having made a significant difference to the lives of last-mile mobility drivers, we have now entered into partnerships with large-scale OEMs and Ecom companies to solve the cost of delivery by switching to EVs.”

The EV market in India is expected to grow aggressively from 2 million to 80 million vehicles by 2030 as per government estimates. Chargeup has enabled over 2000 drivers to cover more than 10 million km of emission-free commute by spending merely Rs 1 per km since it was established.

“Electric mobility is the panacea for sustainable transportation needs, there is an urgent need for consistent investments in the sector and supporting brands like Chargeup in their incredible work. At Capital A, we have set up a $10 million cleantech fund ‘Evolve’ to support the evolution of the EV ecosystem through investments in areas of battery technology, battery swapping, power trains, battery management systems, charging infrastructure, and other related adjacencies. We are thrilled to be a part of Chargeup’s vision of ensuring cleaner mobility in India,” said Ankit Kedia, Founder, of Capital A.

Ashvin Chadha, Managing Partner, Anicut Capital said: “There is a dire need for India's EV industry to create a sustainable ecosystem. To do so, various services need strengthening; one such service being battery swapping. This is where we believe it is crucial to invest in brands like Chargeup that are focused on being the change leaders in the sustainable mobility arena in India.”