Eight Roads Ventures Leads a $26 Million Series B Financing for Exponent Energy. Exponent Energy, an electric vehicle charging infrastructure business, reported on December 14 that it had secured $26.4 million in its Series B fundraising round headed by Eight Roads Ventures and TDK Ventures, in yet another example of investors investing big in the EV category.
Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, and Pawan Munjal, Executive Chairman of Hero MotoCorp, also participated in the round.
According to Moneycontrol, the transaction is worth between $120-$150 million.
The Bengaluru-based business has so far collected $44.4 million in investment and intends to use the additional cash to expand its footprint to five other cities by FY24, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad.
In addition, the business intends to develop its e3W offering and join the intercity e-bus category in 2024. Exponent wants to build 1,000 epumps (charging stations) and power 25,000 EVs by 2025, according to Arun Vinayak, cofounder, and CEO of Exponent.
“In FY24, we averaged a monthly revenue run rate of Rs 2 crore in just one city.” “We will be looking to expand into more cities, which will increase revenue,” Vinayak added.
Vinayak said that the company’s goal is to generate Rs 600 crore in income by 2025 by expanding into three-wheeler freight, three-wheeler passenger, and e-bus.
Exponent Energy, founded in late 2020 by Ather Energy’s former chief product officer Vinayak and his colleague Sanjay Byalal, claims to have created a system that can charge any electric car from 0 to 100 percent in 15 minutes.
Exponent’s patented energy stack consists of a battery pack (epack), charging station (epump), and charging connection (eplug), which the firm says enables a 0 percent -100 percent quick charge in 15 minutes for EVs and a 3000-cycle life guarantee when using conventional Li-ion cells.
“Exponent has around 30 charging stations in Bengaluru and is planning to double the number in the city as well as expand to other cities,” said Vinayak.
The EV charging company collaborates with OEMs and Fleet Partnership to incorporate its epack to produce a quick charging option and establishes a network of epumps for end users in logistics to charge their Exponent-powered EVs. Murugappa Group and AltiGreen are among the companies with whom the corporation has formed alliances.
Exponent secured $5 million in fundraising from current investors YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, and AdvantEdge VC in December 2021. Motherson Family.
Exponent received $13 million in fundraising from Lightspeed Venture Partners in August 2022, with existing institutional investors such as YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, and AdvantEdge VC also participating.
The present financing for Exponent will be TDK Ventures’ first investment in India’s EV industry.
“Exponent’s groundbreaking achievement in crafting an economical and scalable 15-minute rapid charging solution utilizing standard LFP cells is revolutionary, allowing electric vehicles to adopt a more compact battery pack that can swiftly charge within a concentrated public charging infrastructure, effectively removing range anxiety,” said Nicolas Sauvage, founder and CEO of TDK Ventures.
