2021 has been the golden year for the Indian start-up ecosystem, with several firms evolving into unicorns. It has rained cash for early stage start-ups as well, as Internet-of-Things (IoT) based start-up found out after raising ₹7 crores as part of its seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, which happens to be one the largest angel investment platforms in the country.
According to the one-year-old start-up, the proceeds from the funding round would be used for the development of products, and the scaling up of sales, operations, and marketing.
Kazam has set up over 30 charging stations in five states including – Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, and offers the most affordable smart electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the country, which can be used both for personal and commercial use without any manpower to manage the devices. Founded in 2020 by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyagi to make electric mobility accessible to all, the start-up aims to provide a seamless experience to EV drivers including charger discovery, navigation, fast and affordable charging, and payment solutions.
Its software platform can be used by businesses, mobility fleets, and electric vehicle (EV) original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and integrates with their existing hardware.
The Electric Vehicle market is one that is lacking in charging infrastructure for all sorts of vehicles, whether it is 2W, 3W, or 4W, in both commercial and personal applications. This comes even as the EV market is slated to cross over 63 lakh units per year by 2027, simultaneously decreasing carbon emissions to the benefit of the environment as a whole, according to a report by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).
In 2019-20, almost 3.8 lakh units were sold in India, with the demand for EV batteries reaching 5.4 GWh. The last fiscal year witnessed the surging popularity of electric two-wheelers, and the sale of high-speed electric two-wheelers is expected to rise in 2020 as more and more companies FAME-II certification. This is where Kazam comes in – with the growth of Electric Vehicles in the country, it provides a solution for all the EV charging needs for fleet operators, home charging, and public charging, providing both hardware and the software needed to manage and operate on a daily basis. The firm aims to build 10, 000 charging stations in 2021-22 and build a strong team to support it.
According to a statement by the company, Kazam aspires to be the “most innovative, profitable and consumer obsessed product company through a network of charging stations enabled with IoT device for connectivity, analytics, BMS and ability to meter and bill users through a simple app.” The start-up has already built the hardware & software tech for affordable and smart EV charging infrastructure, along with an open architecture to help other charging hardware manufacturers to use their protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs).
“In the consumer segment, customers do want their hands on EVs but the lack of infrastructure makes them hesitant. Kazam’s affordable charging stations and its approach to create micro-entrepreneurs who can host these smart charge-points to earn income, will create a network of charge-points across the country,” said Vaibhav Tyagi, co-founder, Kazam.
