Sophia Nadur, managing partner at BP Ventures, will join BluSmart’s board.
London-based BP Ventures has invested $13 million in integrated EV ride-hailing and charging company BluSmart, marking its first direct investment in India.
It led a $25 million Series A round that also saw support from Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns and Survam Partners, alongside other existing investors.
BluSmart will use the capital to expand its fleet of electric vehicles and charging stations from its home city of Delhi to five additional Indian cities in the next two years, the company said in a statement.
The investment will help bp move towards becoming a leader in India’s mobility market, and provide integrated energy and mobility solutions to help customers reduce their emissions across the world, it added.
Sophia Nadur, managing partner at BP Ventures, will join BluSmart’s board.
To date, BP Ventures has invested almost $800 million in more than 60 companies across seven geographies.
BluSmart is India’s first and largest integrated EV ride-hailing and charging company, and aims to deliver safer, cleaner and more sustainable mobility. It is the first service of its kind with no surge pricing or rides rejected by drivers.
The company also removes the financial burden of vehicle ownership by leasing vehicles to drivers and oversees all vehicle maintenance, to help reduce driver stress.
Sashi Mukundan, president, BP India and senior vice president, BP Group said, “India is making rapid progress in increasing the use of electric vehicles by providing mobility solutions for its people. Today’s investment in BluSmart helps reinforce our commitment to partner in India’s aim to achieve its climate goals and be Atmanirbhar.”
Anmol Singh Jaggi, co-founder of BluSmart, added, “We believe that electric mobility has huge growth potential, driven in part by the increasingly favourable economics behind electric vehicles.
“With that in mind we want to redefine ride-hailing with electric vehicles, and our consumer focus has helped us to already establish a strong brand presence in our core market; to date our vehicles have travelled over 21 million kilometres. This latest funding infusion will help us grow as we work with bp to help transform India’s high-polluting cities and redefine ride-hailing with electric vehicles.”
