BluSmart, an electric vehicle ride-hailing startup, has received over $25 million in Series A funding led by BP Ventures. The funding was received from Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns and Survam Partners along with existing investors. BP Ventures has led the round by putting $13 million in the current round. This is the US-based venture capital firm’s first investment in an Indian startup. It has put nearly $800 million into more than 60 companies in seven different countries.
According to a company statement, the fresh capital will be used to expand the company’s fleet of electric vehicles and charging stations from its home city of Delhi to five additional Indian cities over the next two years. Furthermore, the company claims that its business is rapidly expanding in Delhi NCR, which accounts for 20 per cent of India’s mobility market, and that it has already saved over 1,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide with over 650,000 passenger trips completed to date. In September 2021, Jio-BP, the fuels and mobility joint venture between Reliance and BP, announced a partnership with BluSmart to build a network of commercial large-scale electric vehicle charging stations. Jio-BP aims to set up these stations for passenger electric vehicles and fleets across the country.
BluSmart is an all-electric, shared, and smart mobility platform for ride-sharing, car-sharing, and scooter-sharing. The company has been providing zero-surge and zero-tailpipe emissions ride-hailing services in the Indian capital with its all-electric fleet. In addition, the company is attempting to expand diversity and inclusion in its operations. The company announced in June 2021 that it would increase the number of female driver-partners on its platform to 500 in a year.
