Exponent Energy secures Rs 200 Cr from 360 ONE, TDK Ventures, and others

Exponent Energy has raised Rs 200 crore ($21.1 million) in a round co-led by 360 ONE Asset, an asset manager, and TDK Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Japan’s TDK.

Hitachi Ventures, the venture arm of Hitachi, also joined the round, while existing backers including Eight Roads Ventures, Lightspeed, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and YourNest participated again.

YourNest, Exponent’s first institutional investor, put in an additional $4 million from its Continuum Fund.

The Bengaluru-based full-stack energy company focuses on rapid charging for commercial electric vehicles. The funds will be used to expand into new cities and vehicle categories, and step up research and development.

The company describes itself as an 'energy partner' for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which are the vehicle makers themselves. Its system combines a battery pack, charger, and connector, besides financing and asset management through Exponent ONE, so that fleet operators can buy vehicles, power them, and manage them through one stack.

Exponent claims its platform can deliver full charge in 15 minutes. It offers a 3,000-cycle life warranty using standard lithium ion cells. It also provides interoperability, meaning vehicles can use Exponent stations as well as public chargers and home charging points.

That proposition is aimed at one of the biggest pain points in commercial EV adoption: downtime.

“Exponent is solving the hard problems in commercial EV adoption - balance between cost, practicality and ability for operators to access the incredible TCO advantage offered by the EV paradigm — all through its full-stack ultra fast-charging platform that spans both battery and a purpose-built charging ecosystem,” said Sumit Jain, Head, Venture Growth Investments, 360 ONE Asset.

Arun Vinayak, Founder and CEO, Exponent Energy, said the funding arrives at a defining moment and added Exponent 2.0 will use the base to build a “category defining energy company” for electric mobility.

Exponent has raised a total of $65.7 million since 2020. The new funding round would help it deepen a model that has already been tested in the field.

The funding comes at a time when India is pushing for electric buses through the PM eBus Sewa scheme; which targets 10,000 buses on a public private partnership model; the PM E-DRIVE programme; and the Ministry of Power’s 2024 charging guidelines, which focus on connected and interoperable charging infrastructure, including battery swapping.

Capital is also flowing into the space. Ola Electric recently raised about Rs 780 crore through a qualified institutional placement, while IFC committed about $50 million to GFCL EV for an integrated battery materials plant in Gujarat.

These developments suggest that investors are backing not just vehicles but also components including batteries, charging systems, and supply chains, which are crucial for India’s electric transport plans to scale.