Chargeup raises $7 Mn in pre-Series A1 round

Chargeup, a battery swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers, has raised $7 million in a pre-Series A1 round led by Capital-A and Anicut Capital along with other investors such as 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.

This is the second funding round for the Delhi-based startup in 2022. In February, the firm had raised $2.3 million in its pre-Series A round led by Capital-A and co-led by Anicut Capital. Tiger Shroff, Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta had also participated.

The fresh funding will be used in expanding its services to 20 new cities and power over 50,000 drivers, the company said in a release. The firm will also strengthen its finetech platform, and tech stack to ensure 100% uptime and seamless experience for its customers.

Founded by Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan, Chargeup offers battery as a service (BaaS) with lightweight Lithium batteries that can be swapped at multi swap points. As per the company, it enables unlimited swaps and helps the end user to convert 50% of the vehicle cost from capex to opex.

The brand promises a 2-minute battery swap within a radius of 2 km to ensure twice the revenue for drivers and dealer partners. The company claims that it has grown to 100 stations with 800 drivers on its platform. It currently operates over 200 swap stations in Delhi/NCR, clocking 1 lakh swaps per month.

The entry of battery tech startups in the battery as a service and battery swapping space has also made it easy for electric vehicles to travel longer distances and lease batteries separately from the vehicle to save upfront money. Startups like Battery Smart, Lohum, Nexus Battery, Log 9 Materials, Inverted, and Yulu are also providing battery solutions.