BP venture capital arm is planning to expand in the clean move space of India
BP’s venture capital arm could bring up to a third of its new investments in India as it searches for deals in a clean mobile dynamic, a managing partner at ventures BP told Reuters.
The British oil company’s investment arm is in talks with Indian companies in areas such as electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, battery swaps, energy storage, electric motorcycles and logistics. last leg, said Sophia Nadur of BP.
BP’s venture has so far only made one investment in India – it invested $13 million in electric ride-hailing company BluSmart in September – and the country makes up about 2% of the portfolio. 800 million dollars.
But Ms Nadur is expected to close a second deal in four months.
“India is a vibrant market, so we shouldn’t be too slow on this and we have no intention of doing so. It could be up to a third of our investments in one year. several years,” she said.
Big oil companies like BP are diversifying their investments as the shift away from fossil fuels threatens established business models.
It formed the BP joint venture more than a decade ago to invest in game-changing technology companies across the energy spectrum. In the field of clean mobility, it has invested in the US
mobile EV charging company FreeWire and Israeli fast-charging battery company StoreDot, among others.
While it doesn’t have an allotted budget for India, the fund typically invests in five to eight deals a year between $2 million and $20 million, each deal, Nadur said.
Like many other countries, India is pushing automakers to produce electric vehicles and wants at least 30% of new car sales to be electric by 2030.
However, electric vehicles currently account for only a small fraction of sales, mainly due to high battery costs and a lack of charging infrastructure.
Ms. Nadur expects the fund’s BluSmart investment to kick-start India’s EV-hailing sector, with more money pouring into battery swapping and charging infrastructure.
BluSmart has partnered with BP and joint venture partner Reliance Industries to set up charging stations around the country.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors, India’s largest electric car maker, has an agreement with BluSmart to supply 3,500 EVs to its fleet.
BP is also looking to invest in India’s EV charging infrastructure to support BluSmart, as well as battery storage and energy management to address India’s challenges around peak electricity demand.
“We are very focused on launching new disruptive areas that could have implications for BP going forward,” said Ms. Nadur.
