Today let us talk about funding. A startup receives funding from various investors who have an eye on them after seeing its potentiality. There are various types of funding- Pre-Seed Funding, Seed funding, Series A, B, and C funding. Pre-Seed Funding is the earliest stage of funding. In this stage, the founders of the company are getting their operations off the ground.
Normally, the pre-seed funders are the founders themselves, or family, close friends, and supporters. The duration of such funding is not fixed. Then, comes the seed funding. It represents the first time officially money comes into the business. Many potential investors are during this time, like friends, founders, incubator, family, venture capital companies, and many more. “Angel Investor” is one of the most common types of investors in this round.
Then, comes the Series A, Series B, Series C, and further rounds of funding where the business and the startups can expand their base and move further.
Now, a new piece of news of funding has come. An Electric vehicle (EV) infra startup, Revos, as announced on September 02,2021, has received a funding of USD 4 million. This round of funding was the Series A round of funding and was led by Union Square Ventures (USV), a US based venture capital firm and Prime Venture Partners (PVP), a Bengaluru headquartered venture capital firm.
The startup plans to use the funds received to bring into effective action more EV chargers across the country and even strengthen its technology team. The startup also has the plans of expansion of expanding its one million chargers in the next three years. It also has the plans to make expansion into other emerging markets and is expected to start a hiring process across all the business functions in the coming few months.
About the newly funded startup
Founded in 2017 by Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav, Revos stands for Revolutionary EV Operating Stack. It is a smart micro-mobility platform that woks with enterprises across the automotive shared mobility value chain to enable and accelerate their smart vehicle journeys. The aim of the startup is to empower all 2 and 3 wheeler vehicles through AI-integrated IoT solutions that will make them safe, smart, and connected.
The benefits to fleet on using this technology are-
Business Efficiency, which ensures that the clients can focus on operations while the software heavylifting is done by the startup
Industry Benchmarking, which ensures that the clients utilise anonymised data and industry benchmarking for parts and components to improve the fleet efficiency
Remote diagnostics and predictive maintenance, troubleshoot issues with components can be easily solved
Reacharge on the go, thsu increasing the average range of the fleet by allowing riders to top up their battery using the distributed charging network of the startup
The benefits to OEM on using this technology are-
Reduced time to markets, the solutions offered by the startup enable quick integration, thus reducing costs and ensuring blazing go-to-market timelines
Drive EV adoption, the charging network of the startup provides the required infrastructure to drive EV adoption
Over the Air updates,there is no need to wait for a new product cycle to offer improvements in the products to the customers with over-the-air updates
Analytics and Diagnistics, this helps in improving KPIs in service, product, and customer engagement by converting real time data into actionable insights
The benefits to owners on using this technology are-
Smart and Connected, where the smart features like Navigation and Notification alerts can be received without touching the phone
Safe and Secure, thus ensuring safety by detecting accidents, emergency SOS, built-in anti-theft locking and find my bike tracking mechanism
Easy Troubleshooting, through remote diagnosis and predictive mechanism, it has now become a smooth process
Goodbye range anxiety, because of the large presence of charging stations, there is practically no problem to the owners.
The clients of the startup which are present in the country are- Battre, Sun Mobility, NDS Eco Motors, EULER, Mirakles, Virya Mobility, and Yo Bikes
The clients of the startup with the global presence are BENLING, OKLA, UGBEST, PEGA
The Bengaluru based startup, through its charging network has saved 1354 tonnes of carbon-di-oxide, and has helped more than 5000 vehicles which have covered more than 16500000 kms, in 30 OEMs across India, China, Vietnam, Nepal, and Egypt. The startup is now planning to launch in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Funding by Union Square Ventures
Founded in 2003 by Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham,Union Square Ventures is a a venture capital which is headquartered in New York, United States. The venture capital has backed more than 130 startups including many big names like Twitter, Tumblr, MangoDB, Kickstarter, Stack Overflow, Meetup, and many others. The investments of this venture capital are mostly in the US- based Internet and mobile companies which were considered to be “disruptive”.
As of 2016, Union Square Ventures had USD 7 billion dollar exits including Twitter in 2013 and Twillo in 2016. The 2004 fund of the venture capital has been one of the best performing venture capital funds in the history. In the year 2011, United Square Ventures was chosen as the best-performing venture capital fund in the United States, based on the investment return rate.
This investment of the United Squares Ventures is the first one in the country. Since last two years, the venture capital fund has been engaged in developing the separate climate thesis for companies which are working to make climate crisis less impactful on the globe and the earth. The venture fund currently has funds worth USD 162 million which have been kept for this purpose. The venture capital is currently looking for more efficient, and low emission cooling solutions.
About Prime Venture Partners
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Prime Venture Partners is an early stage fund which focuses on startups that not only need capital but aslo require monitoring to transform them into disruptive companies. The passion of the venture capital is to work closely with entrepreneurs, and enjoys sharing their journey in a high-frquency, intercative, and fun environment.
The venture capital invests in category creating, technology driven startups who show a passion towards their dreams and are relentless in fulfilling them. The venture capital invests only in 4-5 companies in one year.
This investment is the first direct investment of Prime Venture Partners in the EV sector.
What is said about the deal?
The co-founder of Revos, Jyotiranjan Harichandan made a statement saying that the startup is happy and thrilled to have the backing and the trust of leading VC players in India and the United States. The VCs share a common vision with the startup, which is the key to increased adoption of EV vehicles which is making charging easy.
Albert Wenger, who is the managing partner ar USV said that as a part of overall thesis on climate change, the venture capital is engaged in developing specific ideas. The electrification of transporattion is one of the most obvious things. This has directed the venture fund in looking at parts of the world which is still adding a lot of new transportation. This led the venture capitalist to the countries like India and China. He even said that the further investments in India will be made keeping the climate thesis in mind.
He even said that the demad for air conditioning is increasing in countries like India where it is getting hotter. He said that the venture fund is looking for such companies which provide this in an affordable, accessible, and environment friendly manner.
The startup is working for a safe and a healthy future. We wish it good luck and a successful and a bright future.
Edited by Sanjana Simlai.
