Feb 20: Vidyut Tech, an commercial EV financing platform has announced it has raised $10 million in a Series A equity and debt funding round to fuel its growth in Electric Vehicle insurance business.
Founded in 2021 by Gaurav Srivastava and Xitij Kothi, the fresh capital raised by the startup will the fund to launch EV insurance, as well as widen into new locations–40 cities. It also aims to increase its headcount across roles and job functions, including product, engineering, and sales operations.
The company plans to deply the funds to expand into the lifecycle management side of the equation, where it’s currently testing servicing and maintenance offerings, Vidyut’s Co-founder Kothi stated. While Kothi did not reveal whether Vidyut would launch its own service centres or provide it as an add-on package in the loan and insurance bundle, he said the startup will work with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to explore different models.
Vidyut Tech aims to build Niche EV insurance ecosystem
“For a lot of commercial EV buyers, their vehicle is their lakshmi, and they want to take care of it. We want to create an ecosystem around these EVs, right from financing and insurance to servicing and then resale,” Kothi added.
Vidyut also offers battery subscription plans where vehicle owners don’t own the battery outright, but instead pay a nominal amount, per kilometre, as rental fees. The startup has started piloting its EV resale operation, as well as its insurance offering. It will start testing its service and maintenance product in the next two to three months.
Dhairen Tohliani, vice president of Alteria Capital said “After hitting an inflection point, customised financing and lifecycle management solutions will play a central role in large-scale EV adoption, requiring lenders to evaluate asset risk alongside borrower risk.”
“Through its unique offerings, Vidyut Tech addresses this whitespace by passing on the favourable total cost of ownership (TCO) of an EV to users upfront,” Tohliani added.
The financing in Vidyut Tech was led by 3one4 Capital, with existing investors Saison Capital, Zephyr Peacock India, Force Ventures, venture debt fund Alteria Capital, and Udaan CEO Sujeet Kumar.
