Our Investment in BOLT
Building India’s largest EV charging network
Next year, India is expected to surpass China for the world’s largest population with an estimated 1.5 billion people. As we collectively transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, transportation in emerging markets like India will play a large role in global emissions reduction. According to India’s Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), sales for electric vehicles (EVs) increased threefold between 2020 and 2021. Although a surge in EVs appears promising in a country already feeling the effects of climate change, India’s infrastructure supporting such a transition needs to scale accordingly. This is particularly true for two and three wheelers which make up a share of approximately 75% of the total vehicle fleet in the country.
At MCJ, we understand that solutions to climate change span the globe and we aim to diversify geographies across our portfolio. To this end, we’re proud to support BOLT, India’s largest EV charging network focused on two and three wheeled vehicles. Co-founded in 2017 by Mohit Yadav and Jyotiranjan Harichandan, the company is working to make EVs more accessible by easing and accelerating the transition of emerging markets to cleaner mobility. We’re delighted to back Mohit, Jyotiranjan, and the entire BOLT team as they continue to scale mobility and clean transportation throughout India.
What is BOLT?
BOLT is improving the two and three-wheeler experience in India using proprietary software and hardware. The company’s multifaceted solution acts like Android for EVs. First, BOLT created an operating system for EV automobile manufacturers (a.k.a. OEMs), known as BOLT OS, which offers a customizable and modular technology that can transform the EV ecosystem into a safe, dependable, and smart mode of transportation. BOLT OS monitors and controls various components of EVs including the battery management system (BMS), controller, motor, vehicle peripherals such as seat locks, indicators, lights, and others. Through partnerships with OEMs, the technology is seamlessly integrated into EVs avoiding the need for bike owners to perform installation.
BOLT’s charging points also connect a diverse range of EV users in 300 different cities across India and allows them to locate the nearest charging points using the BOLT app. By using a peer-to-peer network approach, customers can purchase and easily install a charging device to their desired power source. Owners are then able to set prices and share their charging point with BOLT’s network of users. This translates to passive income generation for charger owners that will only grow with the rise of EVs in the future.
Why Did We Invest?
Compelling Founder-Market Fit
The company’s co-founders, Mohit Yadav and Jyotiranjan Harichandan, are based in India and met at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Goa Campus. They have a wealth of technical expertise and a team of 300+ spanning geographies.
Mohit previously worked in enterprise management at Adobe and Oracle, and holds a Bachelor of Engineering. Prior to co-founding BOLT, Jyotiranjan worked in product design and development at HungerBox, one of India's top institutional food tech companies, and spent time on Oracle’s financial services software.
Supporting the EV Transition in Emerging Markets
The exploding EV market in emerging economies like India is critical to ensuring clean transportation for the country’s growing population. BOLT is not only easing this transition with its operating system and OEM partnerships, but also the company’s network of over 15000 charging points is noticeably scaling impact.
While BOLT is building a premier consumer brand with its peer-to-peer charging network, it is also attracting an assortment of committed partners from large OEMs and state governments to real estate and housing complexes. Partnering with leaders and industry pioneers further demonstrates the growing market. We look forward to supporting BOLT as it launches new offerings and aims to become the de facto leader in EV charging in the world’s most populous country.
Additional Resources
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