The startup will boost its expansion and hiring plans with the latest funding
A budding Indian startup for electric vehicle financing, Vidyut Tech recently bagged $4 million in a mix of equity and debt. The funding round was co-led by Force Ventures, Veda VC, and some strategic clean energy angel investors. The startup aims to utilize the funds to expand its offering across original equipment manufacturers (OEM) partners and geographies. Vidyut Tech also plans to double the headcount of its credit, engineering and sales teams in 2023.
Co-founder of the startup, Xitij Kothi said: “The biggest consumer need to unlock commercial EV adoption is smart financing. While OEMs are pushing the frontiers of EV tech, the market has lagged in innovating on the financing front. The lifecycle and the ownership journey of an electric ride are very different from those of an ICE vehicle.”
It is noteworthy that despite the pertinent problem of pollution in most Indian cities, the adoption of commercial EVs has been slow. The individual drivers and small business operators, which make up a significant chunk of the retail market, find it hard to bear the high upfront cost of EVs and unexplored battery life. Moreover, EV, being a relatively new theme, hasn’t developed its resale market yet.
The just-over-a-year-old startup aims to help customers own an EV with as low as a 7% of effective interest rate. It offers a traditional term loan plan and a hybrid financing model of a vehicle loan with a battery subscription. The startup offers a unique vehicle ownership solution to commercial vehicle owners, wherein the owners can buy vehicles without owning the battery. This way, Vidyut Tech claims, the owner has to pay less upfront cost for an EV, even in comparison with diesel-powered vehicles.
Interestingly, Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, Sahil Barua, co-founder of Delhivery; Kunal Shah, co-founder of CRED; Swiggy co-founder Sriharsha Majety, and Lohum co-founder Rajat Verma also participated in the round. Udaan founder and angel investor Sujeet Kumar commented, “To scale big in India, the power lies in unlocking the value from small fleet owners and consumers who will ultimately drive the adoption.”
2021-born EV-tailored platform aims to offer an end-to-end solution for the purchase, financing and resale of electric vehicles. IITians Gaurav Srivastava and Xitij Kothi, its cofounders, want to make commercial EV ownership affordable and a risk-free proposition for customers through its ownership plans. Altigreen, Euler Motors, Mahindra, and OSM are among its industry partners.
