BluSmart Mobility raises $42M in equity and debt in Series A2 funding round
The funding round was led by BP Ventures, the investment arm of energy company BP.
has raised $42 million in equity and debt funding from existing investors in its Series A2 round, thus bringing the Series A total to $85 million.
The funding round saw participation from BP Ventures, the investment arm of energy company BP. A majority of the proceeds came from the founding team that contributed nearly half of the total amount in the Series A2 round in a bid to increase their stake in the company. Around $37 million came from equity, while $5 million was through venture debt, the company said.
BluSmart Mobility will use the capital to increase its fleet size to 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs)—from 4,500 EVs across India currently, the company's co-founder Punit Goyal told YourStory.
The EV ride-hailing company's biggest market is Delhi-NCR. It now wants to expand its base in Bengaluru, where it has 400 cabs on the road. By the end of 2023, BluSmart aims to have 4,000 cabs in the city, which will enable the company to offer the 'ride now' option to customers so that they don't have to book their rides in advance (although this will continue to exist.)
The mobility startup said it has built over 4,000 charging points in massive charging hubs across Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. It plans to build more stations, especially in central areas.
"You can't do EV ridesharing without solving the energy and infrastructure side of the equation first," said Goyal.
The startup has raised a total of $88 million from seed to Series A2 rounds as well as received EV asset-leasing loans of $150 million from financial institutions such as Power Finance Corporation and IREDA.
The fresh capital comes as BluSmart is working to become a stronger competition against incumbent players in the ride-hailing space, such as Ola and Uber, which have announced electrification of a part of their fleets.
BluSmart is currently valued at $250 million, according to a Bloomberg report, citing the company's co-founder Anmol Jaggi.
Goyal said BluSmart will close a bigger Series B round later this year. YourStory had exclusively reported that the Series B round could see BluSmart raise $250 million.
(The story was corrected to say BP's investment arm participated in the funding round, not lead it)
Edited by Kanishk Singh