The CapTable speaks with Kunal Khattar, Founding Partner at AdvantEdge Founders, about how a decade of investing in mobility—from an early bet on Rapido to building a specialist EV portfolio—has shaped the firm’s search for the next category-defining company.
What emerges is less a prediction about a single winner and more an investment framework: backing businesses that remove structural market frictions, establish defensible leadership and make the economics of everyday mobility work decisively in the customer’s favour.
Kunal discusses why India’s EV transition is likely to be led by commercial and high-utilisation vehicles, for which lower operating costs create an immediate incentive to switch. He also highlights three AdvantEdge portfolio companies addressing distinct parts of this transition: Exponent Energy in rapid charging and financing, Moonrider in electric tractors, and Zeno in accessible electric motorcycles.
The conversation extends to battery residual values, Battery-as-a-Service, policy and financing bottlenecks, competition between startups and legacy automakers, and India’s opportunity to build electric mobility solutions for vehicle categories used throughout the Global South.