Startup funding: Bengaluru-based Oorja, which helps automotive companies design better batteries, on Thursday announced raising $1.5 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by Micelio Fund, the first venture capital fund in India focusing on enabling sustainable innovation in the clean mobility ecosystem. The round was co-led by Capital-A and saw the participation of Java Capital, Anicut Capital, and Lead Angels.
The company said it plans to utilise the funds to develop its product and venture into the European and Northern American markets. Launched in 2022, Oorja is a cloud-based platform that uses principles of physics and computation techniques of machine learning to perform predictive modelling. The company works with automotive OEMs and designers to make informed decisions that optimize the design and performance of the batteries.
“Physics-based tools that are currently used are complex, difficult to deploy and slow down time to market. Our motivation behind oorja has been to solve complex engineering problems at the design stage with a cutting-edge world-class product made in India. The hybrid approach uses a combination of physics + ML to improve accuracy and speed up time to market,” said Dr. Vineet Dravid, Founder, oorja energy.
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Part of the Indian Science Technology Engineering Facilities Map (ISTEM) program, under the aegis of the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to the government, the startup was launched in 2022.
Within a year of its launch, Oorja launched its product and supporting applications addressing every battery design challenge including material, range, capacity fade, thermal management, and cell design. The company currently has over 15 customers spread across Asia and Europe.
Alok Chauhan, Principal, Micelio Technology Fund said, “We are very excited to partner with oorja. They are solving a crucial global problem to ensure the transition to clean mobility is safe and efficient. Engineering design is getting complex and time-consuming leading to long release cycles and need user-friendly, time-efficient tools to assist new technology development and launch products faster.”
According to the market intelligence and research firm Mordor Research, the Indian EV battery market is estimated to be at $16.77 billion, which would reach up to $27.70 billion by 2028, with a compounded annual growth rate of 10.56 per cent. The latest economic survey aims to electrify 30 per cent of the Indian vehicles by 2030.