Making its debut in the Indian startup space, US venture capital firm Union Square Ventures (USV) has led a $4 million Series A round in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure startup REVOS in collaboration with domestic investor Prime Venture Partners.
USV, which had joined the likes of Stripe, Twitter, Coinbase and Tumblr, invested from its $162 million climate fund launched in January.
USV Managing Partner Albert Wenger said in an interview that the VC firm is geography-agnostic and is keen to support companies that offer solutions to address environmental concerns. “Our approach is not to think of geography for the sake of geography; it is in the context of a thesis… Within the Climate Fund, we are looking at adaptation to the climate crisis,” he said.
“We are also interested in decarbonization of the grid; I think EVs are beautiful, but when you charge an EV, it still emits carbon into the atmosphere. So, we’re not there yet. But I am thrilled about the subsidy in India for (EV) adoption. A lot of things need to happen, which creates interesting investment opportunities in India.”
REVOS, which was founded in 2017 by Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav, is an IoT-enabled operating system, offering smart mobility solutions to make electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers safe and connected, besides Helps companies set up charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
REVOS is operating its peer-to-peer charging infrastructure network, BOLT, which will allow users to set up charging points and earn passive income. The BOLT offering includes an IoT-enabled charging point, which is compatible with all portable chargers used for EVs in India.
“Our focus has been around software technology plays and infrastructure plays. REVOS has an operating system and IoT software play on the charging network side. These are areas we are very comfortable with, and a large part of the charging network is paid And there is going to be around settlement as well. So, it is in line with our comfort zones,” said Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners.
This is the first investment for Prime Ventures in the EV space. It recently announced the first closure of its Fund IV for $75 million.
“We are investing heavily in building a peer-to-peer charging network for EVs, and this will be driven by the community participating in the network. We believe that the (charging) ecosystem for EVs will evolve in a similar way. REVOS will also work towards reducing the charging time,” said Yadav, co-founder.
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