New Delhi, Oct. 27 -- Gurugram-headquartered distributed energy company OMC Power, which is backed by Japanese strategic investors Chubu Electric Power, Mitsui & Co, as well as the Khattar family office of Singapore, has brought on board an automotive major as an investor, with the latter acquiring a minority stake in the company.
Japanese auto major Honda Motor Co Ltd has invested an undisclosed amount in OMC Power. "The aim of the investment is to contribute to stable power supply utilizing batteries, which is expected to expand in line with the accelerating electrification of mobility products in India," Honda Motor said in a release.
In January next year, OMC Power will launch a leasing business for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (a portable and swappable battery), it added.
Honda Power Pack Energy India Pvt Ltd (HEID), Honda's local battery-sharing service, will supply OMC Power with the Honda Mobile Power Pack e:, it said.
OMC Power will integrate it into its UPS devices and lease the units to households, small businesses, schools, and other facilities.
In August this year, VCCirle had first reported that OMC Power was in talks with marquee Japanese investors to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore ($115 million) in fresh equity.
While neither Honda nor OMC disclosed the financial details, some media reports said Honda has picked up between 5-10% in the company. VCCircle could not independently verify this.
In response to a text message, OMC Power founder Rohit Chandra declined to share additional details, saying he is "not allowed to disclose" any information.
VCCircle's August report had said that OMC Power is gearing up to expand its portfolio tenfold, from the current 100 MW to 1 GW. In late July, OMC Power had said that it is likely to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore in equity and debt to build a 1 GW distributed energy portfolio in the country. At present, the company's 100 MW portfolio is concentrated only in Uttar Pradesh. The remaining money will be raised as debt, the VCCircle report said.
Founded in 2011 by former telecom industry executive Rohit Chandra, Artheon Group founder Sushil Jiwarajka, and former Hutchison India chief Anil Raj who is based in Sweden, OMC Power is also backed by a bunch of high-net-worth individuals, including stock market investor Vallabh Bhansali and Singapore-based businessman and lawyer Sat Pal Khattar.
In its initial days, the company was backed by the Rockefeller Foundation as well, which infused some debt capital.
Mitsui was the first Japanese investor to back OMC Power in 2016, pumping in $10 million. It has since invested more, taking the total investment to around Rs 250 crore.
Chubu, which first invested in OMC in 2022 and again in October last year, has since become the dominant investor, infusing around Rs 500 crore in equity.
As of March 31, 2024, Mitsui held a 32% stake and Chubu 25%. Their total holding has since increased to 63.3%, it is gathered.
For FY24, OMC Power logged revenue of Rs 35 crore, which is estimated to have risen to around Rs 50 crore in FY25. Although its net loss had doubled to around Rs 45 crore in FY24, the company is said to have cut losses significantly last year and turned operationally profitable, it is learnt.
OMC Power currently operates across four business lines. Apart from supplying green energy to telecom tower companies like Indus Towers and American Tower Corp (ATC) across 400 locations in Uttar Pradesh, it also manages 100 mini-grids in the state's rural areas.
Further, it has clients in the lucrative commercial and industrial (C&I) segment, and has begun providing rooftop solar power to government-owned hospitals in the state, including Lucknow-based King George's Medical University.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.