Battery, chargers, software: Kazam’s playbook for India’s EV game

In 2019-2020, Indian utility companies faced a common problem as the nation started adopting electric vehicles (EVs)—a sudden spike in electricity demand for charging EVs at homes simultaneously every day. 

“An EV at your home would consume anywhere between 5-10 houses worth of electricity in one go. The way it works is that we all come home at 6-7 in the evening and try to charge our vehicles. So, there’s a peak load that happens at 6-7 pm,” Akshay Shekhar, Co-founder of Kazam, tells YourStory.

These utility companies approached Kazam’s Co-founder Vaibhav Tyagi, who had previously launched a solar energy company, Zunroof, to provide a solution to combat this problem and understand the load requirements to charge EVs.

“That’s how Kazam actually started,” Shekhar adds. 

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based Kazam today operates charging stations in public spaces for the general public and quick commerce players. As an OEM supplier, it sells white-label chargers—which EV companies can sell under their brand—and software that helps consumers and operators keep track of their vehicle’s charge.

Building it up

Starting a YouTube channel helped Shekhar and Tyagi better understand the demand and needs of the EV industry. They realised consumers interested in buying EVs have done their homework. 

The duo understood that India is a two- and three-wheeler-dominant economy, and if one buys an EV, they can cut expenses, especially for these vehicles.

According to ICRA, penetration levels of electric two- and three-wheelers (excluding e-rickshaws) in India are expected to reach 6-8% and 14-16%, respectively, in FY25.

The duo started building charging stations and software to help connect them to the cloud. Once they understood who came to charge and the vehicle that needed charging, they could understand the electricity load balancing required and schedule the charging. 

“You may not want to charge at 6 in the evening. You could even charge 10 or 2 in the night because you don’t need 12 hours to charge your vehicle. You just need two hours, and that can be scheduled. And, that will help the utility company do that,” Shekhar says. 

Kazam’s software stack includes Kazam CMS, Kazam FMS, and Kazam BSMS—each with a unique function. 

Kazam CMS helps operators understand and monitor fleet charging, while FMS helps OEMs integrate help centres, finance, and fleet operations. Kazam BSMS monitors and controls battery health and offers geo-tracking and geo-fencing services. 

The EV startup works with three private utility companies, including BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna, and Tata Power, to solve this in Delhi. The company is creating more such use cases in other states.

It has also expanded its charging infrastructure service to nationwide fleet operators like Zypp, Mahindra Logistics, and Lightning Logistics. 

However, fleet operators had a separate issue. Since their vehicles travel long distances, they must be charged overnight to ensure they are fully operational the next day. 

Kazam solved this by adding a system where fleet operators could identify whether a vehicle was charged overnight for the next day’s delivery on a dashboard. 

Besides its charging infrastructure and the software, Kazam also focuses on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In fact, Bajaj Motors, Ather Energy, and Mahindra & Mahindra are leveraging Kazam’s chargers. 

Today, when you buy a vehicle from any of these companies, Shekhar says, you get a Kazam charge point along with your purchase, which can be installed at your home. 

Manufacturing 

Kazam follows a manufacturing model similar to that of Apple. 

“Apple has gone on to manufacture and create patent holders and designs in-house for all of them (Apple products). That’s exactly the model we have for our hardware. We have around 60-70 auto engineers who work on hardware tech and build the latest technology, design it, update it,” Shekhar explains. 

Kazam has partnered with an India-listed company with global operations to help build its hardware. It has also joined hands with another manufacturer to help mitigate the risk of depending on a single manufacturer for the company. Shekhar declined to disclose their names. 

The company imports about 10-12% of the product’s value from other countries, including the US, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. It sources the rest of the raw materials domestically, which allows Kazam’s OEM partners to take advantage of the government’s production-linked incentive schemes (PLI). 

The road ahead

This year, Kazam introduced its new fast charging points—priced at a premium—which can charge two- and three-wheelers in 20-30 minutes. Its traditional charging points take 1-1.5 hours to charge a single EV. 

Kazam has various charger models that can be used across vehicle segments ranging from the Mini, which is priced at Rs 7,999. The co-founder adds that the fast chargers are used more in public and commercial spaces, while traditional ones are used at home. 

Meanwhile, Kazam signed an agreement with Malaysian government-owned energy company Petronas to expand its operations to Malaysia. It also plans to enter Thailand and Indonesia. 

Shekhar adds that vehicle OEMs like Bajaj and Ather are looking to enter SAARC regions, which include Nepal, Sri Lanka, and other Southeast Asian countries. 

“At this point, we have an AOP (annual operating plan) ready with these customers, but I cannot pinpoint the customer,” Shekhar says. 

Kazam is also contributing to the Unified Energy Interface (UEI), which aims to create an ecosystem and help improve digital economic transactions between energy platforms. The initiative is powered by the Beckn Protocol, on which the ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is also built.  

Shekhar adds that consumers can expect a “very large launch” from UEI in October or November this year but did not disclose more details. 

Besides, Kazam sells its EV software stack to about 15 countries. The startup is operational across 60 Indian cities, increasing its presence in Tier II and III cities.

“There are close to 5,500 pin codes that Kazam has been active on, and by the end of this 12 months, we should be close to 10,000 pin codes. Every month, we are adding anywhere between 4,000 to 4,500 charging points in India,” Shekhar adds. 

Setting up infrastructure in Tier II and III cities is more challenging, as it’s difficult to find the right skills, get power supply, and supply raw materials, and Kazam is setting up a task force to address them. 

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Top-line numbers and funding

In the past 12 months, Kazam has grown about 8X-9X on a cumulative basis. It is trending toward $4.5 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) currently and expects around $6 million ARR by year-end. Shekhar adds that Kazam is expected to become profitable in the next 8-10 months.  

According to him, the company’s revenue has grown 3X from FY23 to FY24. 

It competes with Gurugram-based Statiq and Bengaluru-based Bolt.Earth in this space. 

According to Tracxn, Kazam has raised $14.3 million in equity funding across eight rounds and had a post-money valuation of $23.8 million as of July 24. 

It last raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Avaana Capital Advisors and Vertex Ventures in August.

“When we moved in, and we decided we should invest early on in their journey, what really was for us was the fact that they had figured out a way to convince various stakeholders—be it the fleet companies, ecommerce companies, utility companies, charge point operators—to all sort of come on a common network,” said Swapna Gupta, Partner at Avaana Climate and Sustainability Fund.  

Shekhar says the company does not need much capital. It might consider raising capital this year if it finds the right partner. “I think the winter wave has really taught us how to be in the market right now,” he says.