Exponent Energy raises $26 million in Series B round led by Eight Roads Ventures

Cofounders of Exponent Energy

Exponent Energy, an electric Vehicle charging (EV) infrastructure startup, on December 14 announced that the firm has raised $26.4 million in its Series B funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures and TDK Ventures, in yet another instance of investors betting big on the EV segment.

The round also saw participation from Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, and the family office of Pawan Munjal, Executive Chairman, Hero MotoCorp.

Sources told Moneycontrol that the deal is valued at around $120-$150 million.

The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $44.4 million in funding so far and plans to utilise the fresh funds to scale its presence to five new cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad by FY24.

The company also plans to expand its offering in the e3W space and enter the intercity e-bus segment in 2024. It aims to deploy 1,000 e^pumps (charging stations) and have 25,000 EVs powered by Exponent by 2025, Arun Vinayak, cofounder and CEO of Exponent told Moneycontrol.

"In FY24, in just one city we are averaging a run rate upwards of Rs 2 crore a month in revenue. We will be looking to scale up to more cities and this will obviously be expanding revenues," Vinayak said.

The firm is aiming to clock a revenue of Rs 600 crore by 2025 by expanding to three-wheeler cargo, three-wheeler passenger and e-bus, Vinayak said.

Founded by Ather Energy's former chief product officer Vinayak with his colleague Sanjay Byalal in late 2020, Exponent Energy says it has developed a technology that can charge any electric vehicle from 0-100 percent within 15 minutes.

Exponent’s proprietary energy stack include battery pack (e^pack), charging station (e^pump), and charging connector (e^plug) which the company claims to unlock a 0 percent -100 percent rapid charge, in 15 minutes for EVs and unlock a 3000-cycle life warranty using regular 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," Vinayak said.

The EV charging firm partners with OEMs and Fleet partnership to integrate its e^pack to create a rapid charging variant and sets up a network of e^pumps for end users operating in logistics to charge their Exponent-powered EVs. The company has signed partnerships with firms like Murugappa Group and AltiGreen.

In December 2021, Exponent raised $5-million funding from existing investors YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital and AdvantEdge VC. Motherson Group.

In August of 2022, Exponent bagged $13 million in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, with existing institutional investors such as YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC also participating.

Exponent's current funding will be TDK Ventures first investment in India’s EV sector.

"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, President, TDK Ventures.