Worldwide Battery Firm powers up with $35M funding to bridge EV hole in India

Worldwide Battery Firm, a startup growing lithium-ion battery cells for electrical automobiles, has raised $35 million because it plans to bridge the demand-supply hole within the rising EV market in India.

Led by RTP International, the pre-Sequence A spherical noticed participation from Beenext, Veda VC and numerous strategic Korean and U.S. traders. It comes forward of an even bigger spherical during which the startup is trying to elevate round $70 million, TechCrunch solely discovered and confirmed.

India is dwelling to greater than 3.5 million EVs, with practically half of them being electrical two-wheelers and fewer than 10% four-wheelers, whereas the remainder encompass e-rickshaws, three-wheelers and a small variety of electrical buses, per the info obtainable on the Indian authorities’s Vahan portal. The numbers are insignificant, as greater than 23 million automobiles had been bought within the nation in 2023 alone.

Nonetheless, the share of EVs available in the market is anticipated to develop due to new laws and incentives supplied to producers. New Delhi aims to limit internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by electrifying 30% of its complete four-wheeler base and 80% of its two- and three-wheeler market by 2030.

Worldwide Battery Firm sees a chance in that shift.

At the moment, EV batteries used within the Indian market are imported — primarily from China — resulting in security and sustainability issues. These battery packs should not designed adequately primarily based on native situations nor appropriately manufactured to resist put on and tear. This has even led to some situations of electrical two-wheelers catching hearth. Worldwide Battery Firm touts to deal with these points and fulfill each the present and projected demand of EV batteries within the nation with its in-house Li-ion battery cells.

“There is a lot of demand in the Indian market, which is satisfied through imports right now. No cells are being manufactured in India. So, we want to participate in that journey in India,” Priyadarshi Panda, founder and CEO of Worldwide Battery Firm, instructed TechCrunch in an interview.

Establishing stage for native manufacturing

The Delaware-headquartered startup, which was based by Panda in 2022, makes a speciality of manufacturing its large-sized rechargeable Prismatic Li-ion Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) batteries. The startup is concentrating on the small mobility sector comprising two- and three-wheelers, mild industrial automobiles (LCV), and farm and business tools.

The startup researches and develops its battery know-how in Silicon Valley and produces Li-ion cells at its 50MWh capability manufacturing plant in South Korea, that are particularly designed for the Indian market — assembly the necessities to function safely in excessive temperatures, help fast-charging capabilities and provide prolonged lifecycles, with a 7- to 10-year guarantee.

The ability, which produces United Nations 38.3 standard-based Li-ion NMC battery cells which are absolutely recyclable and reusable, helped the startup make its first industrial cargo this month. The startup obtained certification from India’s customary physique, the Bureau of Indian Requirements (BIS), in December to begin promoting its EV battery cells within the nation.

Alongside manufacturing in South Korea, International Battery Company signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government within the southern state of Karnataka final yr to construct a 10GWh facility in Bengaluru by 2028. The startup initially appears to be like to construct a 2GWh facility within the state by 2025 unfold throughout 100 acres that shall be a “copy exact” of its present Korean manufacturing facility.

Panda, an IIT Kanpur and MIT alumnus who labored as a senior course of engineer at Intel, productiveness lead at Lam Analysis and a director at Utilized Supplies, has greater than 980 worldwide citations from seven analysis publications and 12 granted U.S. patents. He has beforehand helped set up a Prismatic phosphate-based lithium-ion gigafactory in New York and a Prismatic lithium-ion NMC manufacturing facility in Korea. Primarily based on his expertise, the manager plans to develop Worldwide Battery Firm’s facility in India.

The startup has already began conversations with traders on elevating its Sequence A spherical of round $70 million to execute plans to construct its gigafactory in India, TechCrunch discovered.

When requested, Panda confirmed the extra fundraising plans. He said the startup would attain 30% to 50% of its $35 million funding aim with its product being certified and reaching preliminary prospects. The remainder of its funding goals to develop a knowledge system with AI and ML algorithms to enhance yield — earlier than attending to the subsequent spherical.

“As the funding is a long process, we are trying to just feel the market, see who would be the right kind of partners to primarily enable the execution plan of the India gigafactory,” he mentioned. “We are proactively preparing for the execution of building the gigafactory in India, which we will do with the additional fundraising.”

Distinctive edge

Notably, Worldwide Battery Firm will not be alone in constructing Li-ion battery services in India. Corporations together with the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, South Korean carmaker Hyundai, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast and Bengaluru-based electrical two-wheeler producer Ola Electrical have additionally introduced their plans to construct EV battery services within the nation. Equally, the worldwide EV market has BYD, LG Power Answer, SK Innovation, and Panasonic, amongst main firms, in battery manufacturing. Nonetheless, Panda mentioned Worldwide Battery Firm’s strategy of being Li-ion product firm makes them completely different from the competitors, because it designs cells retaining in thoughts the necessities of Indian shoppers.

“We are an ecosystem participant, along with other players who have announced plans for building Li-ion cell gigafactories in India. And together, we will enable solutions for the end customers… and together we can bring the upstream value chain, be it the powders, separators, electrolyte, all the components, the entire value chain in EV,” Panda mentioned.

The product-oriented strategy by Worldwide Battery Firm satisfied RTP International to shut the deal amid the ongoing market slowdown and a rising pattern the place VC corporations largely keep away from placing tens of millions of {dollars} into startups but to generate revenues.

“Many people have been trying to build batteries for India in the last four or five years, even the big guys. But there hasn’t been any meaningful production at this stage that anybody has been able to reach out to because it’s a very, very complex product,” Nishit Garg, accomplice at RTP International, instructed TechCrunch. “The [International Battery Company] founders, and the way they have approached so far is just very different from a lot of others. They have been grounded and are quite focused on execution rather than making news about it.”

The preliminary goal of Worldwide Battery Firm is to serve prospects in India, and it has already began working with two of the three prospects on board which are within the two- and three-wheeler segments. Within the subsequent spherical, Panda instructed TechCrunch the plan is to work with industrial and farm tools producers. Primarily based on these learnings, the startup appears to be like to steadily develop battery cells for the massive mobility phase, starting with buses and vans and later increasing to electrical automobiles. It additionally aspires to broaden its horizons past India because it progresses.

“Once we, with a focused approach, penetrate and provide compelling solutions to the customer base in India, primarily in the small mobility sector, be in the two-wheeler, three-wheeler, LCV, farm and industry equipment, then we will look at other markets such as Korea, North America, and Europe,” Panda mentioned.

Though the manager didn’t disclose the names of any prospects, Worldwide Battery Firm talked about in one in all its current shows to traders, which TechCrunch individually reviewed, that it counts two-wheeler makers Ather Power, River and Matter, three-wheeler producer Euler Motors, EV charging tech startup Exponent Power and carmaker Hyundai amongst just a few different firms in its buyer pipeline. The startup additionally initiatives to generate an annual income of $350 million within the second section of its operations between December 2024 and 2025, with the 2GWh manufacturing facility, per the main points obtainable in its traders’ deck.

As some firms have been exploring options of Li-ion batteries for EVs to cut back dependence on lithium and are researching sodium-ion cells as a possible resolution, Worldwide Battery Firm can also be doing its R&D on the topic within the U.S.

“The fundamental integration is very similar to lithium-ion. So with the maturity of the technology and the markets really calling for it, we would be cognizant of it and very likely to be able to build sodium-ion solutions as well,” Panda mentioned.

Panda is joined by co-founders Raj Singh (CRO), Venkatesh Valluri (president), and Sasi Kuppannagari (COO). The startup has a headcount of 100 individuals, together with 75 working its operations in South Korea and 10–12 full-time workers and consultants within the U.S. It’s presently hiring in India to broaden its native crew of half a dozen individuals.