[Funding alert] EV infra startup RACEnergy raises $1.3M led by Micelio Fund, growX ventures

Hyderabad-based RACEnergy, an electric vehicle infrastructure startup, on Thursday announced that it has raised a Seed+ round of $1.3 million.

Led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures, along with investments from Huddle, Prophetic Ventures, BITSian Angels, and other angel investment firms, the funds will be used to enhance R&D, scale the company’s swapping technology and infrastructure, and fulfill the pre-orders received in Hyderabad and surrounding Tier-II cities.

As a technology-first company, focused on battery swapping, RACE provides an integrated solution by taking the cost of the battery out of the vehicle and offering energy as a service through a network of swapping stations. Drivers can simply swap their discharged batteries with charged ones within two minutes, enabling them to operate on road for longer durations. To onboard vehicles to its platform, the company provides retrofit kits that convert existing ICE auto-rickshaws into electric, making it economical and scalable.

“Over the last three years, we have focused our efforts to develop the most advanced swapping technology, engineered for Indian vehicles, and roads. As a tech-first company, the funds will enable us to make more ergonomic and customised batteries, further our connected cloud system, deploy the first-of-its-kind cooling system inside a battery pack, and accelerate our production process. This will help scale our pilot programs to meet the growing EV demand,” said Arun Sreyas, CEO and Co-founder, RACEnergy.

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"We are happy to back RACE, yet again, on its path to becoming the pre-eminent battery swapping infrastructure creator in India. The company has made solid progress over the last couple of years and has remained sharply focused on developing a proprietary technology backbone. This will now allow RACE to build a superior and differentiated swapping network in the next couple of years," added Sheetal Bahl, Partner, growX ventures.

Early last year, RACE raised $500,000 during a seed round from growX ventures, early-stage investor Prophetic Ventures and other angels as part of Huddle, an EV accelerator. The company showcased its first prototype in 2019 and aims to set-up India’s largest network of battery swapping infrastructure across various cities, starting with Hyderabad.

“RACE has developed one of the most advanced and sophisticated technologies to enable swapping of batteries for electric vehicles. Our team at Micelio are impressed by the founders' vision, knowledge, and execution capabilities,” said shared Shibulal, Founder and Director, Micelio Fund.