Macquarie Capital acquires a minority stake in ChargeZone

Macquarie Capital, the investment arm of Australia's leading investor Macquarie Group has acquired a minority stake in ChargeZone, a leading Indian EV charging company, said a company release.

The investment from Macquarie Capital will allow ChargeZone to accelerate its business strategy and further develop its cloud technology-enabled EV charging network. It operates top electric vehicle (EV) charging stations Charge+Zone.

Macquarie Group and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) are in discussions to acquire a significant minority stake in Tecso Charge Zone, ET first reported on 31 October. Charge Zone is likely to raise about Rs300-350 crore from these investors. It's part of the series B round -where the startup plans to raise about $110 million (Rs900 crore) at Rs1500 crore valuation, ET reported.

“Our ultimate goal has been to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and the deployment of EV charging infrastructure throughout India," said Kartikey Hariyani, Founder and CEO, ChargeZone. This collaboration with Macquarie Capital marks a significant milestone in our relentless pursuit of that goal and signifies our commitment to transitioning India's urban transportation towards sustainability, supporting the nation's objectives of reducing carbon emissions and promoting clean mobility, he added.

“The energy transition continues to be a key area of focus, as we leverage our deep sector expertise to help clients develop sustainable and critical infrastructure assets that connect local communities and drive decarbonisation efforts in India,” said Ivan Varughese, Senior Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure and Energy Capital, Asia Pacific, Macquarie Capital.

ChargeZone actively utilizes renewable energy sources to power the charging stations with the aim of having a significant number of chargers powered by renewable energy by 2030.

Currently, 80% of their charging stations are Company Owned ChargeZone Operated (COCO) while the remaining are under an industry-first scheme of Dealer Owned ChargeZone Operated (DOCO) while their tech IP driven operating system viz. ChargeCloud ensures their availability and functionality, added the statement.

ChargeZone has various OEMs, eMobility and locational partnerships including Audi, Hyundai, MG Motors, Kia, Mahindra & Mahindra, Switch Mobility, AshokLeyland, VolvoEicher, Tata Motors, SnapE, and Everest Fleet.

As of March 2023, ChargeZone has more than 3,500+ charging points across more than 1,500 EV charging stations in operations or construction in 37 Indian cities and has covered more than 20,000 kms of highways and aims to reach one million charging points by 2030.

Charge+Zone has so far raised $68 million (Rs600 cr) from investors through equity and debt.

In March, CHARGE+ZONE had raised $54 million (Rs 450 crore) in Series A1 funding round led by global impact investment management firm BlueOrchard Finance.

India may need a minimum of 1.32 million charging stations by 2030 to facilitate the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), according to a recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report - Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicle.