Startups in the electric vehicle ecosystem have continued to attract investor’s interest and the segment has cornered close to half a billion dollars in this year. As per data sourced from TheKredible, 36 startups in EV space have scooped up over $480 million in 2023 to date. When compared, EV startups raked in $796 million across 61 deals in 2022.
Apart from manufacturers, battery and charging companies have been thriving as well and one such company is Neuron Energy which claims to deploy more than 20,000 batteries across two and three wheelers EVs.
Founded by Pratik Kamdar and Raj Shah, Neuron provides lithium-ion and lead-acid technology smart batteries for bikes, rickshaws, and golf carts. The company recently managed to raise Rs 20 crore in pre Series A round which appears to be a result of its four-fold growth in FY23.
“Our scale grew nearly 4X to Rs 30 crore in FY23 and we remained profitable with Rs 30 lakh (PAT),” said Pratik Kamdar, co-founder and CEO of Neuron Energy. “About 80% of our lithium-ion batteries are deployed across two-wheelers while remaining in three wheelers.”
Apart from working directly with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the firm supplies batteries to small and medium manufacturers who don’t make their own batteries. It claims to work with 12 OEMs including Komaki, YC electric, E-Vishwa, EVTrick, 3ev, & 2.O.
Neuron Energy also supplies golf cart batteries in adjacent countries such as Kuwait, UAE, Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The company also plans to expand to Europe, the US, and African markets in the coming months.
Break-down and safety issues are major concerns as far as batteries in EVs are concerned but Neuron Energy claims to have solved both issues. “Our batteries are bluetooth enabled and we solve over 90% of issues through a combination of mobile app and remote assistance,” said Kamdar.
Fire in EVs is common and experts and users often blame batteries for such accidents but Kamdar stresses that their batteries are safe.
“We do testing for a period of three to six months, and observe the performance of the cells under various conditions including temperature conditions, degradation life cycle. We have not had any fire incidents, out of the 20,000 packs that have been deployed by us in the market,” he said.
Buoyed by its four-fold growth in FY23, Neuron Energy is planning to raise a large round by the end of the ongoing fiscal. “On the lines of FY23, we will grow our collection to Rs 120 crore in FY24,” said Kamdar. “In terms of installations, we set a goal to deploy 50,000 batteries and currently install anywhere between 3,000-5,000 units every month.”
