All-electric ridehailing firm BluSmart Mobility Tech Pvt. has raised Rs 207 crore, or $25 million, in a fresh equity round from ResponsAbility Investments AG, a Switzerland-based global climate fund.
The investment will be made as part of the fund's broader $500 million climate investment strategy aimed at actively reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Asia, according to a release on Monday.
The investment follows BluSmart's $24-million equity round, which was announced in December. It has also secured long-term electric-vehicle asset financing of about $200 million, or Rs 1,660 crore, backed by development financial institutions like the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. It aims to scale its EV fleet size from 6,000 to 8,000 across the National Capital Region and Bengaluru in 2024.
"The team at BluSmart has built a commendable EV ride-hailing and EV charging infrastructure business in India and is building world-class electric charging infrastructures, which are key to the rapid EV penetration in India," Sameer Tirkar, principal for climate finance of the Asia Pacific region at ResponsAbility, said.
Founded in 2019, the Gurugram-based startup is building a full-stack EV ridehailing service and an EV charging infrastructure network.
The pureplay EV service has emerged as a contender to ridehailing majors Uber and Ola, which have been prompted to launch or integrate electric vehicle fleets of their own.
The company claims to have completed 1 crore lifetime electric trips in 2023. It also owns and operates 4,000 EV chargers across 34 hubs. It has also touched $50 million in annual revenue runrate and is growing at more than 100% year-on-year.
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