Capital A, a venture fund for seed to early-stage meaningful start-ups has set up a $10-million (around ₹75 crore) cleantech fund “Evolve” to back funding for electric vehicle-related startups in India

The fund, which has been christened as Evolve, will help in the adoption of EVs in the country, the company said in a statement.

A company statement said India is at the cusp of a mobility revolution. The high cost and low operating range of EVs kept them out of the mainstream in the past. However, with fast charging, lowering of costs, battery swapping services, etc., the range anxiety and cost concerns will soon be eliminated, it said.

“What is needed now is funding support to promising EV OEM (original equipment manufacturer) start-ups as well as companies involved in building charging, battery management, and battery technologies segments.

“We have launched the fund after having developed an active thesis and forging industry partnerships that enabled us to gain deep insights into the Indian EV market, and we aim to back founders building impactful start-ups,” Capital A founder Ankit Kedia said.

The company is looking at tie-ups with academic institutions focusing on the EV sector and encouraging entrepreneurship in the domain.

The vision is to ensure that lack of working capital or mentoring does not deter promising EV tech start-ups from innovating and creating the next big breakthrough in electric mobility, it added.

Before the Evolve fund, Capital A had also announced a $25 million proprietary fund to invest in 8-10 startups with ticket sizes ranging from $50,000-$500,000.