Exponent Energy raises $5 million in pre-series A Round

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, Exponent Energy 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 energy train’ - 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 sky high 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.