Having electric vehicles on the road is not enough, and there is a need for technology that focusses on fast and efficient charging of those EVs. This is where Exponent Energy, an EV upstart, comes in. Exponent has announced a new $13Mn round, for its fast charging battery tech that can unlock a 0 to100% rapid charge within 15 minutes, while also improving charging cycles.
The Series A funding round was led by Lightspeed and included the participation of all of its existing institutional investors, including YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital and AdvantEdge VC. This also marks the first investment by Lightspeed in India’s EV sector.
“Our technology already delivers a seamless charging experience, and with our vehicle partnership in place, we’ll scale-up our production and network presence…This funding now allows us to execute even faster and make 15-min rapid charging the new normal,” said Arun Vinayak, co-founder and CEO, Exponent Energy.
Exponent plans to use the proceeds from the funding round towards scaling up its e^pump network to 100 location points per city, starting with Bengaluru. Funds will also be utilized towards streamlining the production of e^packs, and rolling out more exponent-enabled EVs on the road. e^pump and e^packs are the startup’s proprietary charging station and battery pack solutions respectively, that together unlock a 0 to 100% rapid charge within 15 minutes for EVs with any number of wheels, while also providing a 3000 cycle life warranty – all while using regular Li-ion cells to make rapid charging affordable and scalable.
“In Lightspeed, we’ve found a great partner as we build the future of energy. Harsha Kumar & Romit Mehta resonated with our two-sided approach (battery & charger) to simplifying energy for EVs and we’re humbled by their trust in the team’s ability and the tech’s potential,” the startup wrote in a LinkedIn post.
This fresh bout of funding comes soon after the startup announced its partnership with EV OEM Altigreen Propulsion Labs to set up charging stations for electric commercial vehicles across the country.
Out of that partnership was born what Exponent Energy called the “world’s fastest-charging electric three-wheeler.” Another fruit of the partnership was Exponent’s e^pack on the Altigreen neEV HD, which will roll out for deliveries from October and is a scalable and affordable rapid charging solution.
With Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal at the helm, the two-year-old Exponent Energy focusses on simplifying energy for EVs to the flow of energy and information between the grid and vehicle.
Before the current round of funding, Exponent Energy had reined in $6 million in seed and pre-Series A rounds from the family office of Dr. Pawan Munjal, Chairman, and CEO, Hero MotoCorp, Motherson Group, along with YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and other angel investors.
