India-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Altigreen Propulsion Labs secured Rs 3bn ($40m) on Friday in a series A round backed by Reliance New Energy, a subsidiary of conglomerate Reliance Industries.
Venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures led the round, which also featured Momentum Venture Capital, Xponentia Capital and Accurant International. Reliance revealed in a regulatory filing that it contributed just over $6.6m to the round.
Altigreen provides EVs for commercial use in last-mile transportation and currently offers flatbed, low-deck and high-deck three-wheeled vehicles. Proceeds from the round will be used to accelerate research and development as the company looks to launch new products including low-carbon vehicles, expand its manufacturing capabilities and strengthen its presence in its home country.
India’s electric vehicle market was valued at $5.47bn in 2020 according to Mordor Intelligence and is forecasted to grow to $17bn by 2026. The rate of uptake aligns with predictions for the wider global EV market, which is projected to reach over $1 trillion in size by 2026.
The Indian government has a system of tax breaks and subsidies in place for both consumers and manufacturers and is working to scale the market by removing the requirement to hold a licence to operate EV charging stations.
While ambitious, India has a long way to go to reach the level of neighbouring China, which has invested billions of dollars in its EV industry in connection with its environmental and sustainable transport strategies in recent years.
Several early-stage EV technology developers have raised capital in recent months, including India-headquartered electric scooter developer Simple Energy, which secured $21m in a round featuring real estate developers Sattva Group and Athiyas Group in November 2021.
Vietnam-based smart electric motorcycle manufacturer Selex Motors, received $1.2m in seed funding last month while Potential Motors, a Canada-based developer of artificial intelligence-backed vehicle control software for electric off-road vehicles, raised $3.2m in convertible debt financing last week.
The uptake of EV adoption could run into a bottlenecks because of limited charging infrastructure, so investors have been keen to put capital into that area. Wind energy project developer Yard Energy Group led a $4.8m seed round for Leap24, a Netherlands-based charging network operator for electric vans and trucks, earlier this month.
Investment firm Jupiter Capital had provided $2m in funding for Altigreen in 2016 before it raised an undisclosed amount of bridge financing the following year from an undisclosed institutional investor along with unnamed individuals.
Altigreen Propulsion Labs Pvt Ltd.
