Electric vehicle charging infrastructure platform CHARGE+ZONE announced the raising of $54 million (Rs 450 crore) in a Series A funding round led by global impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance on Monday.

Additionally, CHARGE+ZONE said the company plans to raise $7.5-100 million in equity between 2023 and 2024 as part of Series A2. The current Series A1 round is part of a planned $300 million capex investment. The statement said that the company expects the electric four-wheeler segment to experience critical growth over the next 4-5 years.

The company said the new funding, combining debt and equity, will support plans to expand the high-speed charging network. Of the total funds raised, $8 million came from debt investments in infrastructure strategies managed by BlueOrchard, it said.

In the latest funding round, the company has raised $67.5 million, including an earlier $13.5 million.
“CHARGE+ZONE has raised $54 million as part of its Series A1, of which $8 million is a debt investment from an infrastructure strategy managed by BlueOrchard,” the company said.

It added that it was the largest funding round involving equity and debt to expand a high-speed charging network led by BlueOrchard Finance with existing and new institutional investors.

“At this stage, our goal is to build 3,000 high-speed DC charging stations by 2025 and expand our network to enable electric mobility in the fleet and personal electric vehicle segment, including electric cars, buses and trucks,” said the founder and CEO Kartikey Hariyani said.

CEO of CHARGE+ZONE. In addition to new expansion goals, the funding will fund the immediate rollout of 286 charging stations serving a fleet of 1,130 electric buses and trucks and a fleet of more than 1,250 electric vehicles, the company said.

As of this month, CHARGE+ZONE has more than 3,000 charging points in operation or construction of more than 1,500 electric vehicle charging stations in 37 cities in India, covering more than 10,000 kilometres of highways. The company plans to build 1 million charging points by 2030.

The company claims that CHARGE+ZONE’s Series A1 funding will directly or indirectly create at least 500 jobs in the long run.