V-Guard Acquires Non-Controlling Stake In Battery Startup

V-Guard Industries (V-Guard), one of India's major fast-moving electrical goods (FMEG) company, on Thursday announced that its board has approved the acquisition of a minority stake of 18.77 per cent in Gegadyne Energy Labs Private Limited (GEL) for Rs 33.4 crore.

GEL is a Mumbai-based alternate battery technology start-up developing innovative energy storage (battery) solutions, which could deliver better battery performance on key metrics like total cost of ownership (TCO), life cycle, recharge time, safety profile and maintenance costs, compared with current battery technologies.

In addition, all key raw materials can be sourced locally, thereby providing distinctive advantage against some of the upcoming battery technologies based on rare metals with significant import dependence. V-Guard plans start-up collaborations as one of the routes to participate in emerging technologies and building product capabilities for fuelling future growth. GEL investment is a stepping-stone in this direction and implies V-Guard's willingness to move into cutting edge-technology space and its growing focus on creating disruptions in established businesses. V-Guard foresees potential in GEL's alternative battery technology for various primary applications like diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply (DUPS) / energy storage in addition to secondary applications in other products of its existing portfolio.

Mithun Chittilappilly, managing director, V-Guard Industries Ltd, said, “The proposed acquisition marks V-Guard's foray into deep tech start-up space and is in-line with V-Guard's philosophy of delivering thoughtful products and experiences to its discerning consumers. We believe this collaboration will enable V-Guard to further strengthen and expand its product offerings as well as help GEL to realize its potential faster.”

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India was the financial advisor and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was the legal advisor to the transaction for V-Guard.

V-Guard Industries manufactures and markets voltage stabilisers.