bp ventures, the venture capital arm of British energy company bp, has made its first direct investment in India, by investing $13 million in integrated EV ride-hailing and charging company BluSmart. It led a $25 million Series A round that also saw support from Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, and Survam Partners, alongside other existing investors.
BluSmart will use the capital to expand its fleet of electric vehicles and charging stations from its home city of Delhi to five additional Indian cities in the next two years. On the other hand, the investment will help bp move towards becoming a leader in India’s mobility market and to provide integrated energy and mobility solutions to help customers reduce their emissions across the world.
The electric ride-hailing industry in India is forecast to grow significantly, with mobility as a service projected to make up 15% of the 1.1 trillion kilometers to be traveled by passenger vehicles in India by 2030, compared to 5% of the 477 billion kilometers traveled today.
BluSmart aims to transform ride-hailing in India with the nation’s largest EV charging infrastructure and a growing fleet of electric vehicles to its advantage. The company’s business is quickly growing in Delhi NCR, which represents 20% of India’s mobility market. BluSmart estimates it to have already saved over approximately 1,500 tonnes of CO2, with more than 650,000 passenger trips completed to date.
Richard Bartlett, SVP future mobility & solutions, bp, said: “The electric mobility revolution will have a huge impact in reducing vehicle emissions in cities, which in India are growing quickly. BluSmart’s business model solves a number of key barriers to urban EV ride-hailing take-up, from the cost for drivers to the quality of customer experience. Our partnership is underpinned by shared values; caring for customers, colleagues and the environment, and with safety at the core of everything we do. We are excited to have made our first direct investment in India, to grow alongside the BluSmart business.”
Anmol Singh Jaggi, a co-founder of BluSmart, added: “We believe that electric mobility has huge growth potential, driven in part by the increasingly favorable economics behind electric vehicles. With that in mind, we want to redefine ride-hailing with electric vehicles, and our consumer focus has helped us to already establish a strong brand presence in our core market; to date, our vehicles have traveled over 21 million kilometers. This latest funding infusion will help us grow as we work with bp to help transform India’s high-polluting cities and redefine ride-hailing with electric vehicles.”
Sophia Nadur, managing partner at bp ventures, will join BluSmart’s board. To date, bp ventures has invested almost $800 million in more than 60 companies across seven geographies.
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