Ride-hailing company Uber has led a $20 million funding round in Mumbai-based fleet operator Everest Fleet, people aware of the matter told. The funding is Uber’s first inorganic investment in India, and comes in the backdrop of the US-based urban mobility company’s expansion into electric vehicle (EV) services for which it has partnered with several fleet operators including Everest.

Notably, Everest also partners with Uber’s rival in India SoftBank-backed Ola. “This funding round will accelerate our transition from being a CNG-dominated fleet to one with CNG and electric vehicles in the next five years. By 2026, we aim to have 10,000 electric vehicles as part of our overall fleet,” Siddharth Ladsariya, co-founder, Everest Fleet, said.

Currently, Everest is present in seven cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune. With this investment, Everest said it plans to expand its footprint to other major Indian cities and new global territories. Even as Uber will only acquire a minority stake in Everest, this marks a step away from the company’s stance of not having a control on its fleet.

In February, Uber signed a deal with Tata Motors to induct 25,000 EVs into its fleet. These vehicles are being purchased by Uber’s fleet partners including Everest. Last month, the company launched Uber Green service in India, under which users can request EV for their commute. The service has initially been launched in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

“Everest has grown its fleet at an impressive pace and has set new industry benchmarks in asset utilisation. With the addition of new cars, including electric vehicles, Uber will continue to deliver a great service experience to riders,” Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia, said.

While for Everest, the fundraise comes at a time when it is looking to add capacity to serve the likes of Uber, for the San Francisco-headquartered company, the bet is on the growth of EV as a ride-hailing segment. With the launch of Uber Green, the company currently competes with players such as BluSmart and Evera.

However, electrification of Uber’s fleet is happening through a long-term process where the company will partner with fleet operators like Everest, and others, startups like BluSmart manage their own drivers and fleets.

“The EV play for on-demand cabs is not as simple as petrol, diesel, CNG cars. There’s a lot more effort that goes into building the whole ecosystem for EVs from charging infrastructure, vehicle financing. For this, you want to have a certain level of control over your fleet, and that cannot happen with asset-light models, which Ola and Uber have,” a Delhi-based mobility investor told.

In addition to Everest, Uber has also partnered with fleet operators such as Lithium Technologies and Moove for its EV deployment. It has also brought its partnership with BP an investor in BluSmart to India through Jio-bp and has also tied up with GMR Green Energy for fast charging Uber EVs.

Further, state governments are also making a tacit push for cab aggregators to adopt EVs in their fleets. The Delhi government has issued a set of draft rules for aggregators, in which it has proposed four-wheeler aggregators to have 5% of their fleet converted to EVs within six months of final notification and 100% within five years of the notification.