BlackSoil has invested $5 Mn in Battery Smart, Upmove Capital and Revfin.
National, 14th December: Leading venture debt firm, BlackSoil has invested $5 Mn in three startups namely, Battery Smart (a battery-swapping network; amongst the largest in India), Upmove Capital (the NBFC arm of SmartCoin, a consumer lending startup focused on providing micro loans) and Revfin (a digital lending start-up focused primarily on financing EVs). These impactful companies have shown tremendous growth in their segments and are backed by experienced management and marquee investors.
Commenting on the same, Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder and Director of BlackSoil said, “We are delighted to announce our new investments. Keeping in-line with our underwriting thesis, we continue to build our presence in new age businesses such as EV, while still maintaining our strong presence in the financial services/fintech space. These businesses have shown great resilience and tenacity in the face of changing macro as well as global events.”
Tiger Global backed Battery Smart is a Gurgaon-based battery swapping startup that provides advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric two and three-wheelers. Depleted batteries are swapped with fully charged ones in just two minutes at any swapping station of the company. Presently, the company has more than 12,000 customers across 12 cities in North India, including Delhi-NCR, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Karnal, Panipat, and Lucknow. The swappable batteries are one of the enablers to rapid adoption of electric mobility in India, particularly empowering electric two-and three-wheeler vehicles which are capable of utilising this technology that alleviates range anxiety and enhances vehicle uptime.
Battery Smart was co-founded by IIT-Kanpur graduates Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka. Additionally, the company is also backed by investors such as Orios Venture Partners and Blume Ventures. As of Nov-22, the company has built a network of 400+ swapping stations, enabled 5.5+ Mn battery swaps, and powered 160 Mn emission-free kilometers.
Lightrock backed Upmove Capital is the NBFC arm of SmartCoin, a consumer lending startup focused on providing micro loans to the underserved middle / lower income segments. Incorporated in late 2015, SmartCoin is a mobile app-based lending platform with product offerings such as small-ticket personal loans to micro merchants, self-employed, small retailers, blue-grey collared workers and salaried individuals. Additionally, the company is also backed by investors such as Unicorn India Ventures. Till Sep-22, the company has disbursed $115+ Mn across 1 Mn loans.
Green Frontier Capital backed Partners Revfin is a digital lending start-up based in Delhi focused primarily on financing electric vehicles. It identifies underserved segments and underwrites them using alternate techniques of biometrics, psychometrics, and gamification to make lending convenient and accessible to all individuals. Started in 2018 by Sameer Aggarwal. Additionally, backed by investors like Green Frontier Capital. The company has funded over 12,000 EVs and has NPAs of less than 2%. The vehicles financed by Revfin have driven 250+ Mn green kilometers, resulting in a reduction of 27,400+ metric tons of carbon emissions. The group has tie-ups with 15+ OEMs and 550+ dealers across 15 states. Having recently closed its Series A round, the company is eyeing to expand its presence to 25 states by the end of Mar-23 and reach a market share of 10%.
BlackSoil currently manages an alternative credit platform consisting of an RBI-registered NBFC and four SEBI-registered AIFs. Through multiple platforms, it has built a quality loan book by deploying $350+ Mn across 130+ deals and having an AUM of $100+ Mn. Some of BlackSoil’s noteworthy investments include 9 unicorns –
Upstox, Slice, Mobikwik, Udaan, Zetwerk, OYO Rooms, Spinny & Purplle
along with other prominent companies such as leading roll-up play cloud kitchen company –
Curefoods
, a pioneer in the EV ride-hailing space –
Blu-Smart
, women-focused rural housing finance company –
Aviom
amongst others.
