Better Place, a US-based electric car infrastructure company, has filed for bankruptcy in Israel having previously raised more than $850m from a venture consortium including industrial conglomerate General Electric.
In December, investment holding company Israel Corp led a planned $100m investment into Better Place, according to a filing. The other investors were not disclosed. The deal had raised $50m of a planned $100m, according to the 29 November filing.
Israel Corp is controlled by Better Place chairman and billionaire Idan Ofer, who is also the principal of the Quantum Pacific Group,
Better Place had by then raised a total of $850m in funding. $111m was raised in a Series A in 2007 led by Lend Lease Ventures, which was followed by $25m in the second tranche, as well as $350m in a 2010 venture round led by Morgan Stanley and $200m in a Series C in 2011 – funding which nearly doubled the company’s valuation to more than $2bn. Better Place’s previous backers included conglomerate General Electric and UK-based bank HSBC Group.
Founded in 2007 by Shai Agassi, Better Place had operated in China, Israel, Hawaii, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia.