EV energy tech startup Kazam raises $6.2 million from IFC, Vertex Ventures, Avaana Capital Advisors
The Bangalore-based company said that these funds will support Kazam's growth as it rolls out its energy transition tools to boost the shift towards
sustainable mobility
.
This new round takes the total capital raised by the company to $19.2 million. Previous equity rounds, led by Avaana Capital Advisors, Vertex Ventures SEA & India, and Chakra Ventures, brought in $13 million.
'Kazam is building the digital infrastructure for EVs at scale, something that's critical as the world transitions to clean mobility,' said Akshay Shekhar, CEO and cofounder of Kazam. 'IFC's backing signals confidence in our platform's potential to decarbonise transport, especially across emerging markets.'
The company has seen strong growth, with revenues jumping from $1.5 million in FY24 to $6 million in FY25, a fourfold increase. Kazam is aiming to double that to $12 million this fiscal and expects to reach earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) profitability soon.
'EVs are key to accelerating India's economic growth and energy transition. However, limited
charging infrastructure
remains a challenge. Our investment in Kazam aligns with IFC's strategy to catalyse the growth of the
electric mobility
ecosystem,' said Wendy Werner, country head, India and Maldives, IFC.
Discover the stories of your interest
Blockchain
5 Stories
Cyber-safety
7 Stories
Fintech
9 Stories
E-comm
9 Stories
ML
8 Stories
Edtech
6 Stories
Founded in 2020 by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyagi, Kazam provides device-agnostic solutions to EV charging and battery swapping operators, vehicle OEMs, fleet operators, and electricity grid companies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
India-UK Free Trade Agreement: A $34 billion game-changer for exports and employment
A positive outcome of the tariff saga started by the US is that countries are getting together to sign deals with one another. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom was finalised in May and has been consummated by the signing of the deal. This would be India's biggest deal signed in 10 years and UK's fourth since its exit from the EU. India has signed, with alacrity, a deal with the UK which will raise the total volume of trade to around $34 billion per annum from the present levels of around $2-25 billion. More importantly, it represents the first of many steps undertaken to sign deals with other nations to leverage mutual benefits. The India-UK FTA would eliminate duties on 99 per cent of Indian exports to England. India will gain mainly through higher exports in fish products, chemicals, jewellery, leather products, readymade garments and electronics, which are largely labour-intensive, and will in turn benefit the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) specialising in these products. Intuitively, this will be a boost for not just the SME group per se but also for employment, as such treaties are signed with other countries, too. Units in Tirupur, Surat, Ludhiana, Chennai, and cities in Assam and elsewhere would stand to gain. The present deal seeks to eliminate tariffs on a majority of products that previously faced duties ranging from 4 to 16 per cent. Exports could rise potentially by 20-40 per cent, depending on the responses of the concerned industries. From the UK's point of view, there would be free flow of goods such as automobiles, whisky and gin, among others, which will also help push up employment, thus bringing about symbiotic benefits to both countries. There would be easier access to around 64 per cent of UK's exports to India. Further, as Indian companies invest more as part of the expansion plans in the UK — it can go up to £6 billion — there would be more jobs created which can cross the 20,000 mark. The effective tariff rate for goods from the UK would come down from 15 per cent to 3 per cent, which includes duty on whisky coming down from 150 per cent to 75 per cent immediately and to 40 per cent over a period of 10 years. One area that will work well for India is agriculture, covering various crops as well as fisheries. This includes spices, vegetables, fruits and pulses. As India works to leverage the strength of its agriculture, this FTA provides space for expansion and will take us closer to the target of $100 billion which has been targeted by 2030. At the ground level, there would be streamlining of the sanitary and phytosanitary regulations in the UK, which has hitherto been a major hurdle in the export of farm products. The other significant benefit for us would be in textiles where duty-free exports would be permitted. This is significant as countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia have had the advantage of similar structure, making it tough for our exports, presently in the region of just $1.5 billion. This comes at an opportune time when there could be other pressures on our textile exports to the US. A similar gain can be seen in the case of engineering, where our exports were just $3.7 billion to the UK, which imports as much as $195-200 billion from the world. With the free trade agreement in place, it should be possible to double our exports to the UK. Similar benefits can be seen in pharma, electronics, software, jewellery, etc. In fact, the NHS would start to use generics manufactured by India — a big boost to the industry. At the individual level, there has also been a deal on allowing Indians to work in the UK on a temporary basis with fewer pressures on paying for social security being one of the main gains. Indians would gain from cheaper import of higher-end cars as well as chocolates and whisky, with the duties coming down substantially, thus making them more affordable. How can this deal be viewed? First, it is something which provides a thrust to our exports and hence employment. Second, furthering relations with the UK opens the door to negotiate with other nations and the EU should be next on the radar. Third, such a deal also provides a template to be followed when it comes to negotiating one with the US, already in the discussion stage. Fourth, the deal has focused on an entire array of goods and while manufacturing always looked to be on the cards, the fact that agriculture has a lot to gain is significant as we are harnessing the strength built in this sector. This will help to make the sector more commercial and farming more remunerative as such deals are struck with other nations. Finally, this deal reflects the government's strong commitment to boosting exports as part of its broader effort to integrate the Indian economy into global supply chains. The writer is chief economist, Bank of Baroda, and author of Corporate Quirks: The Darker Side of the Sun. Views are personal
Mint
27 minutes ago
- Mint
Delhi-based venture capital fund raises stake in this LIC-owned NBFC stock. Check details
LIC-owned stock: Shares of Paisalo Digital snapped their three-day winning run on Friday, July 25, even as Equilibrated Venture CFlow acquired a stake in the company. The selloff in the Indian stock market and profit booking after a stellar run over the last few days likely promoted a decline in the small-cap stock, which is part of Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) portfolio. According to a filing shared by Paisalo Digital, the Delhi-based venture capitalist Equilibrated Venture CFlow acquired 74,70,000 shares of the company via the open market, representing a 0.82% stake. The stake was acquired by the company on July 24 and July 25, as per the filing. With this, Equilibrated Venture CFlow's stake in the LIC-owned NBFC stock rose to 16.50% from 15.67% earlier. According to the latest shareholding pattern filed by the company earlier this month, LIC owns a 1.12% stake or 77,59,511 shares. Another PSU life insurer, SBI Life Insurance, holds an 8.96% stake. The small-cap NBFC stock also remained in focus this entire week following the announcement of its Q1 results for FY26 and dividend record date.
Economic Times
27 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Mark Matthews on why FTA with UK, US trade deal shouldn't matter much for India
Live Events You Might Also Like: Most excited about these business segments in next 1-2 years: Raamdeo Agrawal (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel MD,, believes the India-UK FTA will have a small impact on India. He hopes it will encourage a US trade deal before August 6. A US deal could boost the stock market. Matthews anticipates a US tariff for India between 15% and 20%. He considers US trade less crucial for India than for other nations.: I do not know what the impact will be for the UK economy, but it is not big for India as you know UK trade is an extremely small part of India's overall economy. But what I would say is that it should be a boost for sentiment because they have been doing these talks for about three months and hopefully will put pressure on the government to do the trade deal with the United States before the August 6th deadline. That would be a much needed boost for the stock market if that comes I would expect it to come in somewhere between 15% and 20% with 20% being the ceiling for the Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. They are at 19% and then 15% was the recent trade deal with Japan. So, that is the range I am looking for. If it was above 20%, then I would be disappointed, I do not know about the market. Unlike Japan or the Philippines, trade with the US is not material for the Indian economy. I find this is frankly more noise than substance.: I like two things. First, I like the fact that the sector is down almost 20% so far this year. It is not across the sector but there are pockets of very deep value. This is a place in India where you can find deep value. And the second thing is that the guidance from management in the most recent quarterly results was largely positive, looking for better times ahead. So, those are the two reasons why we like it.I am sorry I do not have a view on that, but I can tell you what we think about the consumer space. It will be a beneficiary of the Rs 1 lakh crore tax breaks that were announced in the Budget back in February and we should start to see that filter through, but also the one percentage point cut in the RBI's rate since the last five months – these two forces should be beneficial for the entire space, especially for bigger ticket items like autos and property.I think I was wrong and I remember that conversation. It is probably higher than when we last spoke. I felt that it was overbought because at that time it was up about 25% from the beginning of the year. Now, it is up about 28%. I think what I told you at the time is I preferred the idea of buying stocks in Hong Kong relative to gold. So, I suspect on that basis, it might have been the right call. Hong Kong stocks have done better than gold since we last met. But yes, if you look back over the last 100 years, gold's return is on average 5% a year in US dollars. So it has been a very fine investment, but it does move in spurts and we have just had one of those big spurts over the last two I would have thought it was due for a break, and it continues to go up. Long-term, the thing that speaks in favour of gold is that most central banks do not have enough of it and they would like to diversify away from a very heavy concentration in dollars. In fact, there was a survey that came out last month that showed off all the assets that the major central banks of the world said they intended to increase their allocation to over the next 5 to 10 years, gold had the largest vote in there will be a steady buyer of gold from central banks, but they do not tend to chase the price. They tend to be very calm and steady in their buying of it. I do not want to ramble, but what I am trying to say is I still feel that it is overbought in the short term, but longer term it should continue to demonstrate that attribute of going up about 5% per year over the long term.
