Chara Technologies raises Rs 52 crore in Series A

Bengaluru: Chara Technologies, a deep-tech powertrain solutions company developing rare-earth-free motors and controllers, has raised Rs 52 crore ($6 million) in Series A funding led by Arkam Ventures, with participation from Exfinity Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, and IIMA Ventures. The company is gearing up to establish a new factory in Bengaluru along with a dedicated testing and validation facility.

The expansion is expected to increase Chara’s production capacity five-fold, from 20,000 to 100,000 units annually. The firm is also launching new product lines, including lighter, higher-speed motors, larger-capacity variants, and industrial models, strengthening Chara’s end-to-end powertrain architecture and expanding its in-house capabilities in controls, algorithms, and system efficiency, the company said in a statement.

Founded by Bhaktha Keshavachar, Mahalingam Koushik, and Ravi Prasad, Chara was created with the mission of making India’s energy transition both sustainable and self-reliant.

The company is addressing a critical challenge in electric mobility, as nearly all motors today rely on rare-earth magnets that make up around 40% of their cost. This dependence is compounded by China’s dominance of the global supply chain, leading to price volatility and supply chain bottleneck. Beyond the economic vulnerability, rare-earth extraction is also environmentally hazardous, generating significant toxic waste.

As a response to this, Chara has built a synchronous reluctance architecture that eliminates magnets entirely, making its motors 15-20% more cost-effective and significantly more sustainable, while still matching the performance of PMSMs (Permanent magnet synchronous motors). Chara's products deliver improved vehicle range, reduce energy losses, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). These are key enablers for EV adoption in cost-sensitive and high-volume markets such as India.

Chara Technologies has been at the forefront of developing rare-earth-free motor and controller systems built from first principles. The company’s products are entirely designed, engineered, and manufactured in India. Chara’s proprietary motor control algorithms, power electronics architecture, and software form the foundation of its end-to-end powertrain system, enabling superior system efficiency and scalability across applications. The firm has filed for nine patents (one granted) and its product portfolio today is targeted at two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers as well as off-highway applications, including agricultural and industrial equipment.

Chara is the first rare-earth-free motor and controller company to receive Indian government approval from both ARAI and ICAT, and its motor systems are in active deployment across multiple sectors and geographies, demonstrating proven performance and scalability.

The firm boasts of close to 100 customers, including Greaves Cotton, BullWork, Sonalika, VST, and European OEMs. With Greaves Cotton, Chara has entered into a strategic partnership to jointly manufacture rare-earth-free synchronous reluctance motors and controllers at Greaves’ Shendra facility in Aurangabad.

“As more players enter the space, Chara remains committed to advancing the technology, scaling deployment, and continuing its leadership in building sustainable, high-performance motor systems that redefine what is possible without the dependence on rare-earths,” added Mahalingam Koushik, CoFounder and CTO.