 |
| (L to R) Arun Vinayak & Sanjay Byalal Co- founders Exponent Energy |
YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC doubled down on their earlier investment within 8 months.
Pre-Series A round witnessed participation from Motherson Group.
Company plans to collaborate with OEMs in the cargo vehicle space & deploy a citywide charging network with select partners in every city they enter.
Exponent Energy, a technology startup dedicated to simplifying energy for EVs, announced that it has secured $5Mn in a Pre-Series A round of funding. Existing investor, YourNest VC led the fresh round of funding; 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC doubled down on their earlier investment as the new round witnessed the participation of Motherson Group, a leading global supplier of automotive components.Commenting on the fundraise, Co-founder & CEO, Arun Vinayak said, “We’re excited to deepen our partnership with our existing investors who’ve watched us build from scratch. Motherson coming on board adds immense value to scale with respect to OEM relationships & manufacturing partnerships. Given the demand witnessed for our rapid charging technology in the logistics space, we prioritized closing the Pre-Series A to enter the market by early 2022.”
Exponent Energy is unlocking the scale for EVs by simplifying the otherwise complicated, expensive and slow ‘EV energytrain’ - the flow of energy between the charger and battery, in India. In line with this, the company recently unveiled their battery pack & charging station called the E-pack & E-pump that together unlocks a 15-minute rapid charge and gives a 3000 cycle life warranty (a new industry standard) — all done on a range of affordable Li-ion cells. This is made possible by their proprietary BMS and charging algorithms, layered on top of their unique E-pack design.
The company will use the funds raised to begin commercial operations & scale it across multiple cities starting with Bengaluru from early 2022; hire across product & engineering teams to ensure their products enter production, build out a robust deployment team for smooth operations & double down on its software products to create a seamless customer experience.
Highlighting Exponent’s vision, Arun Vinayak said, “For nearly a decade, stakeholders have come together to solve the drivetrains of the EV ecosystem, getting the 0-1 shift done and dusted for EV adoption. However, to unlock scale, the 1-100 journey needs energy partnerships crafted in a way that creates a win-win-win scenario for the consumer, the vehicle manufacturer, and the charging station partner. At Exponent, we are creating that deeper impact for everyone to scale exponentially.”
Today, EVs take anywhere between 4 to 8 hours to charge with batteries that last ~1000 cycles, creating a broken energy ecosystem. Long charge times lead to poor charging station utilization, making them unprofitable as a business, and leading to a scarce network presence. Slow charging leads to larger unoptimised batteries to combat range anxiety, making the vehicle bulky and expensive. A short battery life drives battery pack financing skyhigh further adding pressure to the end consumer & hampering EV adoption.
Exponent aims to simplify all of this by making energy for EVs seamless, instantaneous and affordable.
Sunil Goyal, Managing Director, YourNest VC, said "Wide-scale adoption of EVs will be limited due to the prolonged charging hours and restricted charging infrastructure. Exponent Energy has developed the much-needed proprietary rapid charging battery and infrastructure technology to provide a seamless and rapid charging experience of ‘recharge like you refuel’. With this round of investment, the company plans to enter and become a dominant player in the market to make our world sustainable."
Pranav Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 Capital adds “The Exponent team has combined their deep insights from the EV and energy distribution systems in India with core IP innovation to solve a long-standing challenge through a disruptive yet elemental set of modalities. With the radical reforms that are being rolled out in the country, this technology will be a natural enabler of India's shift into sustainable energy and mobility infrastructure. We are tremendously excited by the possibilities of the Exponent Energy stack, and we are looking forward to working with them to scale this vital value proposition.”
“As EV adoption takes off across the world, we see the growing importance of rapid charging to see large-scale adoption across larger form factors like commercial vehicles and buses,” said Kunal Khattar, Founder of AdvantEdge. “We are convinced Exponent has the team to build a global company out of India by solving for this holy grail.”
“Motherson has been known as a pioneer in the auto component industry having scaled globally by partnering with leading OEM’s,” said Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, Vice Chairman, Motherson Group. “As the auto industry adopts EVs, we want to remain a key player and partnering with startups like Exponent gives us a head start to be able to build offerings that help us to continue to expand and achieve our broader vision."
Highlighting Exponent’s vision, Arun Vinayak said, “For nearly a decade, stakeholders have come together to solve the drivetrains of the EV ecosystem, getting the 0-1 shift done and dusted for EV adoption. However, to unlock scale, the 1-100 journey needs energy partnerships crafted in a way that creates a win-win-win scenario for the consumer, the vehicle manufacturer, and the charging station partner. At Exponent, we are creating that deeper impact for everyone to scale exponentially.”
Today, EVs take anywhere between 4 to 8 hours to charge with batteries that last ~1000 cycles, creating a broken energy ecosystem. Long charge times lead to poor charging station utilization, making them unprofitable as a business, and leading to a scarce network presence. Slow charging leads to larger unoptimised batteries to combat range anxiety, making the vehicle bulky and expensive. A short battery life drives battery pack financing skyhigh further adding pressure to the end consumer & hampering EV adoption.
Exponent aims to simplify all of this by making energy for EVs seamless, instantaneous and affordable.
Sunil Goyal, Managing Director, YourNest VC, said "Wide-scale adoption of EVs will be limited due to the prolonged charging hours and restricted charging infrastructure. Exponent Energy has developed the much-needed proprietary rapid charging battery and infrastructure technology to provide a seamless and rapid charging experience of ‘recharge like you refuel’. With this round of investment, the company plans to enter and become a dominant player in the market to make our world sustainable."
Pranav Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 Capital adds “The Exponent team has combined their deep insights from the EV and energy distribution systems in India with core IP innovation to solve a long-standing challenge through a disruptive yet elemental set of modalities. With the radical reforms that are being rolled out in the country, this technology will be a natural enabler of India's shift into sustainable energy and mobility infrastructure. We are tremendously excited by the possibilities of the Exponent Energy stack, and we are looking forward to working with them to scale this vital value proposition.”
“As EV adoption takes off across the world, we see the growing importance of rapid charging to see large-scale adoption across larger form factors like commercial vehicles and buses,” said Kunal Khattar, Founder of AdvantEdge. “We are convinced Exponent has the team to build a global company out of India by solving for this holy grail.”
“Motherson has been known as a pioneer in the auto component industry having scaled globally by partnering with leading OEM’s,” said Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, Vice Chairman, Motherson Group. “As the auto industry adopts EVs, we want to remain a key player and partnering with startups like Exponent gives us a head start to be able to build offerings that help us to continue to expand and achieve our broader vision."
 |
Led by Ather Energy’s ex-CPO Arun Vinayak & Sanjay Byalal, his colleague at Ather Energy and a former HUL supply chain & operations manager, Exponent Energy aims to simplify energy for EVs. The company has built a battery pack & charging station called the E-pack & E-pump that together unlock a 0 to 100% rapid charge within 15 minutes for EVs with any number of wheels & provide a 3000 cycle life warranty – all while using affordable Li-ion cells to make rapid charging truly scalable.
To know more, visit the official Exponent Energy website: www.exponent.energy
Twitter: @ExponentEnergy
LinkedIn: Exponent Energy
Advertisements