Ascend Capital raises Rs 50 crore in Series A led by Infoedge, Asha Ventures

Ascend Capital a Jaipur-based NBFC focused on EV financing, has raised Rs 50 core in a Series A round led by Infoedge Ventures and Asha Ventures. 

Founded by IIT Madras batchmates Lokesh Chandra and Gaurav Maheshwari, Ascend in its initial years, had focused on a single geography and became one of its leading players while remaining profitable. “With this fundraiser, Ascend plans to expand its book across multiple geographies further and reach an AUM of Rs 300 crore over the next 2 years," said Lokesh Chandra, Co-founder, of Ascend Capital.

“We know that this is an operationally heavy business and hence have paid a lot of attention, from day one, on creating robust internal platforms. From asset tracking systems to sales productivity enhancement tools, everything is built in-house and as per our specific business requirements,” said Gaurav Maheshwari, Co-founder of Ascend who heads tech and product for the company. 

"Lokesh and Gaurav's understanding of the business and execution over the last 3 years gives us a lot of comfort as we partner with Ascend and we are certain with this fundraise they will further consolidate their lead as one of the top EV financing platforms in the country" said Chinmaya Sharma, Partner, Infoedge Ventures. 

“Availability of EV financing, especially to the vulnerable segments of society, is critical to enabling India to achieve its Net Zero ambitions. Lokesh and Gaurav have demonstrated a strong execution track record and we believe our investment will help them create a market-leading platform and catalyse the flow of capital to this rapidly growing segment,” said Pramod Bhasin, Asha Ventures. 

Clean mobility has increased at a CAGR of 112% over the last 7 years, noted the press release. EV financing is expected to grow into a USD 50 billion opportunity and just 3-wheeler (L3 and L5) EV financing is expected to be a roughly USD 5 billion opportunity in the next 7 years. EV Financing in these segments is a secured and end-use protected lending product aimed primarily at the informal sector overlooked by most major banks and NBFCs.