EV financing startup Vidyut raises $10-mn funding led by 3One4 Capital

Electric Vehicle financing startup Vidyut (VT) has raised $10 million in a mix of debt and equity in its recent funding round led by 3One4 Capital, which comes at a time when investors are doubling down on EV sector startups.

The Series A round also saw participation from Saison Capital, Zephyr Peacock, Force Ventures & Alteria Capital.

The startup will utilise the new funds to scale its offerings to the EV ecosystem as well as foray into newer segments like EV insurance, Lifecycle Management, and EV resale, to simplify the entire EV ownership experience, co-founder Xijith Kothi told Moneycontrol. 

"We aim to build an integrated service for customers. We are building a data-backed asset underwriting model, which allows us to solve for financing better. We had been working on adding more customers as well as non-banking financial company partners," Kothi added.

The firm is also looking to expand its presence to 40 Indian cities.

"We have also entered the resale business and we are selling about 10 vehicles a month, we do valuation inspections using data and we will also be starting vehicle servicing and maintenance offerings to our consumers. Now we are moving from a pure-play financing player to an integrated EV ecosystem  player," Kothi added.

Founded in 2021 by Kothi and Gaurav Srivastava, Vidyut aims to make commercial EV ownership affordable, and a risk-free proposition for customers through its ownership plans.

VT offers two ownership plans: a hybrid financing model of a vehicle loan with a battery subscription, which brings down the upfront EV cost by 40-50 percent, and a traditional term loan plan.

Using battery health data and its proprietary underwriting model, VT manages to extract a high residual value for EVs, Kothi said, adding that the platform helps customers get an effective interest rate of 7 percent. "This is almost on par with the ROI offered by PSU banks for conventional vehicles with an internal".

The firm will also be doubling its team size by the end of FY-25.

In December of 2022, the firm raised $4 million in a mix of debt and equity led by Force Ventures, Veda VC, and a clutch of strategic angels in the clean-energy space.

Sujeet Kumar, cofounder of Udaan, Sahil Barua cofounder and CEO of Delhivery, Kunal Shah, cofounder of CRED, Swiggy’s cofounder Sriharsha Majety and Lohum’s Rajat Verma also participated in the seed round.

"Vidyut's model removes EV adoption barriers, especially in the large but price-sensitive driver cum owner segment. At 3one4 Capital, we are excited to back the Vidyut team in their mission to simplify EV ownership,” said Sonal Saldanha, Vice President of investments, 3one4 Capital.