IIT Madras startup raises Rs 3.6 crore in funding to boost operations

NEW DELHI: An Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) incubates smart electronic vehicle (EV) charger start-up, Plugzmart has raised Rs 3.6 crore in seed funding. The company plans to use these funds for resource and development (R&D) and to scale up the teams to meet large orders.

The smart chargers developed by Plugzmart include a software-based EV charging system designed to meet the growing demand in the charging infrastructure in India. An algorithm will optimally schedule charging in order to maximize the usage of available grid resource for charging EVs and maximize the number of EVs that can be connected to the grid while enhancing grid stability.

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According to a press release, the key factors that differentiate IIT-M's Plugzmart from existing technologies are- they indigenously design and manufacture the EV charge controllers, are connected to cloud for round the clock access through the mobile application, collects data from the vehicle to analyse the performance of the battery and its charging cycle along with the data on energy demand to effectively balance the load and the controller is compatible with any type of charger.

The 2022 IIT Madras-incubated smart EV charger was led by VC BlueHill Capital in its early-stage and followed by investors such as Meera Reddy of SKCL, Kartik Meyyappan, L Ramkumar, Sivadas Raghava and Shailaja Reddy.

Elaborating on how the fundraising will boost their operations, Pugzmart, co-founder, Ragavendra Ravichandran, said: “A majority of EV chargers in India today are being imported and are of low quality. As EV adoption increases both on the consumer and commercial sides, the requirement for chargers from manufacturers of 2, 3 & 4 Wheelers and Charge Point Operators is going to scale rapidly and with this round of funding we are well positioned to fulfil this demand.”

Elaborating on the reasons for investing in Plugzmart, Bluehill Capital, partner, Manu Iyer, said: “As the EV segment in India takes off, we are excited to partner with and invest in Plugzmart, and add to our EV portfolio. There is a gaping hole in the Made-in-India, safe and quality EV charger hardware+software market which we believe can be addressed by Plugzmart. Plugzmart is an exciting startup in the greenfield industry and we are glad to back the team to achieve new heights.”