Electric mobility startup BluSmart raises $7 mn to drive expansion, build charging infra

Gensol Mobility, which owns and operates intra-city electric cab hailing platform BluSmart, said it has secured $7 million (Rs 51 crore) in a fresh funding round, dubbed as a pre-Series A round, from a slew of investors.

Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Survam Partners, Mumbai Angels, Chhattisgarh Investments, JITO Angels, LetsVenture Fund and Kalpavriksh Fund backed the company in this round, a statement said.

The Gurugram-based startup will utilise the fresh funds to increase the number of cars on its platform, set up charging infrastructure, strengthen its technology systems and expand its geographical reach.

“BluSmart aims to improve the status of commuting and curbing the burden on the environment caused due to transport running on fuel combustion. We are also looking at augmenting the EV uptake by expanding fast electric car charging infrastructure for an easy charging practice,” Punit K Goyal, co-founder, BluSmart, said.

The startup claims to be India’s first all-electric smart mobility sharing platform for cars. Users can hail electric vehicles on BluSmart’s platform by accessing its app on the Google Play and App Store. It is currently available only in Delhi-NCR.

The company claims to have fulfilled more than 2,00,000 rides till date.

BluSmart was launched in 2018 by siblings Anmol Jaggi and Punit Jaggi, along with Goyal. The Jaggi brothers also run renewable energy consultancy firm Gensol Group. Goyal previously co-founded renewable energy solutions firm PLG Clean Energy.

The startup last year raised $3 million seed capital in two tranches from JITO Angel Network; Munjal Family Office, the personal investment vehicle of Hero group promoter Suman Kant Munjal; US firm Mayfield; Kalpavriksh PE Fund; Micromax co-founder Rajesh Agarwal and Sanjiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Capital; and KA Enterprises, Deepika Padukone’s family office.

The company said it is in discussions to raise a round of venture debt.

Ola Electric Mobility, a subsidiary of ANI Technologies that runs ride hailing platform Ola, also operates in the same space. It has raised nearly $300 million from several blue-chip investors, helping it become a unicorn in just two years. It is currently running several pilots to deploy charging and battery-swapping networks for commercial electric vehicles. It looks to expand the service for two and three wheelers as well.