Exclusive: Exponent Energy raising $20 mn in an extended Series B. 21 Mar 2026 EV rapid charging startup Exponent Energy is set to raise Rs 182 crore ($20 million) in an extended Series B round co-led by 360 One and TDK Ventures. The round will also see participation from existing investors, including YourNest, Advantedge Technology, Eight Roads Ventures, and Lightspeed India, among others. This will be the first major funding for the company in over two years since its last raised $26.4 million in Series B round in December 2023. The board at Exponent Energy has passed a resolution to approve the issue of 85,135 Series B2 CCPS across two separate filings at an issue price of Rs 21,430 to raise the above-mentioned amount, according to its filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). 360 One will lead the round with an investment of Rs 45 crore, followed by TDK Ventures and YourNest Venture Capital, contributing Rs 44.50 crore and Rs 37.82 crore, respectively. Other participants include Advantedge Technology (Rs 19 crore), Eight Roads Ventures (Rs 15.58 crore), 3One4 Capital (Rs 8.9 crore), and Lightspeed India (Rs 6.67 crore), along with contributions from Rohati Private Strategies, Indigo Circle Advisors, and Vivek Kamlesh Doulatani. According to Entrackr's estimates, the Bengaluru-based company's valuation will rise over 56% to around Rs 1,250-1,300 crore post-money from Rs 797 crore in its last $26.4 million round. Queries sent to the company didn't elicit an immediate response. Exponent Energy has also approved an increase in its ESOP pool by 11,550 options worth around Rs 24.75 crore, taking the total to 62,570 options, along with a 4,000 SAR pool. The combined ESOP and SAR pool is valued at Rs 142.6 crore. Moneycontrol reported in Feb that Exponent Energy was in talks to raise a round. Led by Arun Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal, Exponent Energy builds rapid-charging solutions for EVs, enabling full charging in 15 minutes. It partners with OEMs to integrate its e-pack and develops a network of e-pumps to support efficient charging for logistics operators. Prior to this round, Exponent Energy has raised over $44 million to date including its $13 million round raised in August 2022. The Eight Roads Ventures-backed company's revenue surged over 80% to Rs 30.2 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2025 from Rs 16.4 crore in FY24. During the same period, it narrowed its losses by 66% to Rs 65 crore from Rs 192 crore in FY24. Exponent Energy competes with other battery solution providers in the EV ecosystem such as Lohum, which is in talks to raise a Rs 1,000 crore pre-IPO round, and Battery Smart, which recently kicked off its pre-Series C round with Rs 66 crore in funding. Other players in the space include Nexus Battery, Chargeup, and Statiq among others. Disclaimer: Bareback Media has recently raised funding from a group of investors. Some of the investors may directly or indirectly be involved in a competing business or might be associated with other companies we might write about. This shall, however, not influence our reporting or coverage in any manner whatsoever. You may find a list of our investors here.

Exponent Energy launches Exponent One to unlock EV financing with ai-driven platform. * By MT Bureau * February 17, 2026 From left: Kunal Khattar, Founder, AdvantEdge Founders; Sandeep Divakaran, CEO & Co-founder, Exponent Energy; Arun Vinayak, CEO & Founder, Exponent Energy. Bengaluru-based energy technology company Exponent Energy has unveiled Exponent One, a comprehensive fintech and asset management initiative designed to overcome a significant obstacle in commercial electric vehicle adoption: the challenge of securing practical and accessible financing. This new venture will be led by Sandeep Divakaran, an experienced professional in financing and mobility who joins as Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Exponent Energy has established a comprehensive energy ecosystem for commercial EVs by tackling critical issues such as rapid charging, dependable battery performance and consistent operational uptime. This work has yielded deep, real-world energy intelligence within the commercial mobility sector. Although EV technology has progressed considerably, widespread adoption remains limited by financing hurdles. Exponent One directly confronts this issue with an advanced underwriting and asset management platform developed specifically for commercial EVs, drawing on the aforementioned energy insights. The primary goal is to achieve financing parity with internal combustion engine vehicles by providing flexible financial products and mitigating risk through assurances and buyback programmes. By collaborating with established financial institutions, the new venture seeks to enable large-scale EV financing for commercial operators. Its focus will be exclusively on commercial electric vehicles, encompassing three-wheelers, light commercial vehicles, four-wheelers, buses and trucks. Support will extend to both individual driver-owners and fleet operators, covering the entire ownership journey from initial acquisition through lifecycle management to eventual upgrades. Leveraging Exponent's energy intelligence, the platform employs an AI-driven adaptive financing model that facilitates access to livelihoods. It also integrates embedded insurance to protect against health and asset-related difficulties, while guaranteed buybacks help cultivate a robust secondary market, offering crucial reassurance to vehicle owners and financial partners. Additional features like savings options, supplementary loans and upgrade paths are intended to support drivers in their professional growth. To accelerate its early deployment and broaden its footprint in key commercial EV centers, Exponent One has secured USD 2 million in pre-seed investment from AdvantEdge Founders, aiming to deliver its adaptive financing solutions to a greater number of driver-owners. Sandeep said, "Commercial Vehicle driver-owners operate real-world businesses with daily variable earnings and limited buffers, yet lending models are still run on personal credit rails, with fixed monthly assumptions (EMIs). This rigid approach, focuses on only output metrics of timely payments, and hence fails the driver and leads to the ecosystem viewing commercial EV financing as risky. At Exponent One, we believe in something fundamental: if the driver-owner fails, the system fails. Our vision is to enable sustainable micro-entrepreneurship in electric mobility by building financing that adapts to real world earnings and not monthly averages, manages asset risk, provides buffers and gives drivers the confidence to switch and grow with EVs. Our adaptive lending model focuses on input metrics - asset quality, charging patterns, energy consumption - giving us the ability to differentiate between bad luck and bad intent and help support driver-owners through their circle of life." Arun Vinayak, Founder and CEO, Exponent Energy, said, "Energy in EVs is an upfront capex problem, hence viable-financing products are needed to transform this higher capex to meaningful opex benefits to the driver-owners. Electric Commercial Vehicles are fundamentally energy assets. Our ability to influence battery life and manage them on a daily basis with real-time energy data gives us an edge in understanding these assets better and in knowing their residual value. EVs are digital, earnings are digital and the energy stack with Exponent is digital, and all these input metrics, layered with innovations in AI tech, enhances our ability to contextually underwrite and support the driver-owners through their circle of life. This is a first of its kind partnership, with energy and financing coming together to provide integrated adaptive finance and asset management solutions. We're excited to have Sandeep lead this effort to build the financial layer needed to address the commercial EV financing gap. Together, Exponent Energy will power the assets and Exponent One will power the driver-owner." Kunal Khattar, Founder, AdvantEdge Founders, said, "Commercial EV scale in India isn't just a technology challenge; it's a data and capital challenge. Lenders must understand how these assets actually earn and age to unlock true scale. At AdvantEdge, we're backing Exponent One because they've replaced ICE-era assumptions with real-time operational intelligence, aligning financing with daily earnings and long-term asset performance. By building a durable financial layer tailored to the EV ownership lifecycle, they are addressing the core risk mismatches that have held this industry back. We believe this is the missing piece that will finally move electric fleets from pilot to mass adoption."

India's long-haul travel goes electric: Fresh Bus and Exponent Energy launch the first all-sleeper electric bus fleet with rapid charging. The landmark partnership commits to 250 electric buses, transforming long-haul routes by enabling quick turnarounds, making scalable EV operations a commercial reality. National, India - January 20, 2026: Fresh Bus, India's pioneering all-electric intercity bus service, today announced a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Exponent Energy, a Bengaluru-based tech company. This strategic alliance introduces India's first rapid-charging, long-range electric intercity bus platform, fundamentally reimagining intercity mobility by delivering a travel experience that is more comfortable, sustainable, scalable, and commercially viable across India's vast network. This collaboration marks a pivotal moment for the Indian transportation sector. Fresh Bus is set to become India's first and only intercity electric bus operator capable of deploying a 100% all-sleeper EV fleet on long-distance routes, fortified by Exponent Energy's superfast charging capabilities. This approach transforms traditional EV limitations into a competitive advantage for scalable, efficient intercity operations. Under this comprehensive partnership, Fresh Bus has committed to deploying up to 250 electric buses, supported by Exponent Energy's rapid-charging platform and 1.5 MW charging infrastructure. Fresh Bus will shortly commence services on the high-demand Hyderabad - Bengaluru corridor, marking the first phase of a planned pan-India expansion. Traditionally, intercity electric buses, often limited to an effective range of around 350 km, faced challenges with extended charging times. Fresh Bus, in collaboration with Exponent Energy, has co-designed a comprehensive ecosystem that unlocks unlimited range for EV buses through en route 15 minute rapid charging. Instead of relying on larger, heavier, and more expensive battery packs to extend range, Exponent Energy's rapid-charging platform enables long-haul operations through robust superfast charging. This, combined with megawatt-scale charging infra deployment along highways, enables the buses to effectively have long-range capabilities to serve even 1,000 km trip routes, while simultaneously allowing rapid turnaround times between trips. This significantly reduces mid-point charging halts, enhances passenger experience, ensures faster turnaround times, improved fleet utilization, and greater service frequency. This makes longer, high-demand intercity routes operationally viable for electric buses - routes previously constrained by prolonged charging stops and range limitations - and lowers the total cost of ownership compared to oversized battery configurations. "This is a systems-level solution built for real-world intercity operations. Fast charging is inherently more efficient than simply adding oversized batteries," said Sudhakar Chirra, Founder & CEO, Fresh Bus. "After two years of close collaboration and rigorous joint engineering with Exponent Energy, we're ready to deploy at scale. We are not merely adopting EVs; we are co-designing a new paradigm for intercity travel that is faster, more reliable, and ultimately, more passenger-centric, directly addressing the myth that electric buses cannot reliably conquer India's vast intercity network." Commenting on the announcement, Arun Vinayak, Founder & CEO of Exponent Energy stated, "Rapid charging truly unlocks the opportunity to replace diesel buses with EVs on long-haul routes. A 15-minute quick charge every 300 km during highway pitstops allows for diesel vehicle like operations with all the benefits of EVs to the fleet operator, the passengers and the climate. Nation Republiq is proud to have developed the entire 1.5MW charging capability and rapid charging technology in India. And Nation Republiq is proud to be working with Fresh Bus to co-design the ecosystem. Together, Nation Republiq is putting India in pole position when it comes to long haul electrification globally" This marks a significant step in accelerating India's transition from conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) buses to commercially viable, scalable electric intercity transportation. Fresh Bus's ambitious vision is to capture 10% of India's intercity market share by operating 10,000 EV buses, and this partnership with Exponent Energy is a monumental stride toward achieving that goal. "Our goal is not just to operate electric buses, but to fundamentally redefine what intercity travel looks like in India - making it seamless, sustainable, and superior," added Chirra. "This collaboration with Exponent Energy brings us closer to that vision, paving the way for an unparalleled intercity travel experience for millions of Indians." About Fresh Bus Fresh Bus is a leading all-electric intercity bus service in India, committed to redefining intercity travel. Focusing on sustainability, customer experience, and passenger safety, Fresh Bus operates a fleet of all-electric buses that provide a premium, flight-like in-cabin experience. Features and amenities include noise-free air-conditioned cabins, comfortable all-sleeper configurations, uniformed crew, IoT-enabled real-time bus health monitoring, stringent driver quality standards, security CCTVs, personal charging docks, and real-time bus tracking. For more information, please visit www.freshbus.com. About Exponent Energy Led by Arun Vinayak, Exponent Energy aims to simplify energy for EVs. The company has built a battery pack named e^pack; charging station called e^pump; and charging connector e^plug that together unlock a 0 to 100% charge in 15 minutes for EVs with any number of wheels & provide a 3000-cycle life warranty - all while using regular Li-ion cells to make rapid charging truly affordable and scalable. To know more, visit the official Exponent Energy website: www.exponent.energy