US-based conglomerate General Electric has joined the large group of investors backing US-based electric car company Better Place.
The Series C round nearly doubled the company’s valuation to $2.25bn since its last financing in January 2010, and take the total venture funding Better Place has raised past $750m.
Better Place operates a network and stations to recharge the batteries of electric cars.
Other backers of the round were Ofer Group, the Israel-based holding company, UBS, the Switzerland-based bank, Israel Corporation, the Israel-based holding company, HSBC Group, the UK-based bank, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the unit of the US bank, and venture firms VantagePoint Capital Partners, and Maniv Energy Capital, the energy investment arm of Maniv Investments, a US-based investment firm.
Lazard Asset Management backed Better Place’s $350m series B round, raised in January 2010 at a $1.25bn valuation, and HSBC led the round. At that time, Kevin Adeson, HSBC head of global capital financing, joined the Better Place board of directors.
Better Place said it would use the fundraising to help expand its presence in Western Europe. In September, Better Place opened an office in Paris as its European headquarters and it is also operative in Denmark.
The company is also currently focused on Australia, Northern California, Southern China, Japan, Ontario, Canada, Hawaii and Israel.