Kazam (Kazam EV Tech Private Limited) is a Bengaluru-based Indian EV charging software and energy orchestration platform that connects chargers, vehicles and the grid (not to be confused with the defunct UK smartphone brand of the same name).

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Kazam does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Kazam in Brief

• What it is: Kazam is an Indian EV charging software company based in Bengaluru.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Provides a device-agnostic platform that orchestrates chargers, vehicles and the grid.
• Supports chargers from over 100 brands; over 120,000 chargers onboarded.
• Offers consumer apps for home charging and enterprise tools for fleets and energy operators.
• Funding: About USD 19.2 million (reports differ: USD 12.5 to 19.2 million).

Kazam Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Kazam?

Kazam operates in the EV charging software space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Kazam.

• Provides a device-agnostic platform that orchestrates chargers, vehicles and the grid.
• Supports chargers from over 100 brands; over 120,000 chargers onboarded.
• Offers consumer apps for home charging and enterprise tools for fleets and energy operators.
• Serves 14-plus OEMs including a network integration with Maruti Suzuki, plus ONGC, DISCOMs, 45 bus depots and 150-plus residential societies.
• Recorded over 7 million charging sessions.

The Origin Story of Kazam

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi.
• Founded in 2020 by Akshay Shekhar (co-founder and CEO) and Vaibhav Tyagi.
• Began by building a network of EV charging stations, then moved into software for efficient charging.
• Based in Bengaluru.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the EV charging software sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2020: Founded.
• 2021: Pre-seed of about USD 942 thousand from Inflection Point Ventures (aggregator).
• 2023: Series A of about USD 3.6 million (aggregator).
• 2024: USD 8 million Series A3 led by Vertex Ventures SEA and India.
• June 2025: Series B of about USD 6.2 million led by IFC.
• FY25: Closed at Rs 40 crore revenue, 3.5x growth (company-announced).

Kazam Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• Pre-seed, 2021: about USD 942 thousand, Inflection Point Ventures.
• Series A, 2023: about USD 3.6 million, reported led by Avaana Climate Fund with Third Derivative and Inflection Point Ventures.
• 2023: non-equity round with PETRONAS FutureTech; seed involving Dell Technologies (amounts undisclosed).
• Series A3, 2024: USD 8 million, led by Vertex Ventures SEA and India with Avaana Capital and Alteria Capital.
• Series B, June 2025: about USD 6.2 million, led by IFC with Vertex and Avaana.

How Does Kazam Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• SaaS and platform fees on a device-agnostic energy layer that avoids hardware vendor lock-in.
• Consumer app for home charging plus enterprise tools for fleets and operators.
• Expanding into demand response, peer-to-peer energy sharing and grid services.

The Numbers: Kazam Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY23: revenue about Rs 3.9 crore (aggregator).
• FY24: revenue about Rs 13.1 crore, net loss about Rs 10.2 crore (aggregator).
• FY25: revenue about Rs 40 crore, up 3.5x (company-announced; loss not found).

Market Opportunity for Kazam

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Indian EV charging and energy management, with growth targeted in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where two- and three-wheeler electrification is rising.

Technology and Product at Kazam

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Orchestration platform integrating chargers from 100-plus brands.
• Mobile apps and enterprise energy tools.

Team and Culture at Kazam

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Akshay Shekhar is co-founder and CEO.
• Ram Balasubramanian is CFO.
• Headcount reports differ (113 to 351).

Kazam Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Kazam

• Net loss of about Rs 10.2 crore reported for FY24.
• Company-announced FY25 numbers do not match aggregator FY24 baseline.
• Competitor data is weak and automated.
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Kazam Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Targets Rs 100 crore annual run-rate and profitability by early 2026 (company statements).
• Plans to expand into grid services and a full-stack EV energy platform.
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Kazam can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Kazam Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Kazam

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Kazam.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Kazam

Studying a company in the EV charging software space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Kazam.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Kazam as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Kazam name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Kazam is part of India’s growing EV charging software ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Kazam FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Kazam?

Kazam (Kazam EV Tech Private Limited) is a Bengaluru-based Indian EV charging software and energy orchestration platform that connects chargers, vehicles and the grid (not to be confused with the defunct UK smartphone brand of the same name). It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Kazam?

Kazam was founded by Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi, and the company reports a founding year of 2020.

How much funding has Kazam raised?

About USD 19.2 million (reports differ: USD 12.5 to 19.2 million). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Kazam make money?

Kazam earns revenue from its EV charging software products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Kazam?

Reported rivals include Zelestium Technologies, Tembo, IONITY. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Kazam?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

Related Startup Deep Dives: Cuemath — Raised $57 million in June 2022 at a $407 million valuation; FY24 loss Rs 134.5 crore on revenue of Rs 126.4 crore | Azah — FY21 revenue Rs 4.5 crore (up 136%) and Dec 2019 pre-Series A backed by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Browse the full Startup Deep Dive series.

Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.